americans are willing to except hardships to preserve and protect our nation. america is blessed to up veterans service organizations to continue this tradition after the military active military service ends. this is one of many veterans service organizations contributing to america. the 92 years since our family, -- founding, the order has sponsored youth leadership conference's a credit of the national association of secondary school principals throughout the united states. our order also serves america's youth by sponsoring awards, programs for junior and senior rotc programs, the boy scouts and girl scouts of america. recognize those who excel in national security, homeland security, and law enforcement arena as. we serve america by sponsoring caller sore morris in conjunction with flag day, the fourth of july, a memorial day, and veterans day. we're not unique. veterans to which they belong

support america every day in every way. veteransteful for the abiding devotion to duty. we're humbled by their sacrifices. we almost have to pursue our respective dreams and aspirations. for that and for some much more, we are in their eternal debt. thank you. [applause] >> please what the hon. -- weclome the honorable secretary of veterans >> welcome, everyone, to this hallowed place. our purpose here today is to

honor all of you, the veterans of our great country. mr. president, the first lady michele obama, a medal of honor recipients, distinguished members of the congress, secretary of defense panetta, as secretaries, members of your defense team, chairman and mr. and mrs. marty dempsey, deputy secretary and other v.a. leaders, my greetings to russell vowinkel, our cohost today another pearl harbor survivors who are standing with us as a service organization for the past 70 years. they have been reminders of the importance of national

readiness. thank you for your service and godspeed. [applause] other veteran service organizations, fellow veterans, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, what a beautiful day for observing this 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year of the century. just think warm. [laughter] we gather as americans to celebrate those who have safeguarded this great nation both in peace and war, and to renew our commitment as a nation to those who have borne the battle, president lincoln's words. the veterans can take great

comfort in knowing we have a commander in chief who has devoted to keeping lincoln's commitment. president obama's support for veterans has strong and unwavering. been transforming your va disserved veterans. the president's provided in 2010 the largest single year increased to the va it in over 30 years and he has steadily -- [applause] thank you. he has steadily grown that budget by 27% over the past two this clears. extraordinary support -- over these past two fiscal years. essential if we're going to increase veterans' access, back-to-back locked in disability claims and end

veterans homelessness in 2015. we have added nearly 800,000 veterans to our health care rolls, build more than 50 york community-based clinics and building five new hospitals and have invested in mental health care and the technologies to link veterans wherever they live with the va server is that they need. we have improved outreach to women's veterans. women's veterans' benefits coordinators' at our the 56 regional offices have been added and in rolled over 630,000 veterans and family members in college under the new g.i. bill.

inouye claims process will start eliminating the backlog next year. permalloy house over 32,000 homeless veterans and assisted another 50,000 tour almost call system -san- , and a addressed longstanding issues from past wars, agent orange, call for illness, -- gulf war illness, and easy for veterans to receive the benefits they earned. no president since franklin roosevelt has done more for the nation's veterans, who answered the call at pearl harbor and turned the tide at midway, who captured heather's eagles nest -- hitler's eagles nest, toppled saddam hussein, drove the tell back into hiding, and

brought osama bin laden to justice -- of the taliban into hiding. [applause] we could not ask for a stronger -- and for the men and women who serve today in uniform who will be tomorrow's veterans. ladies and zalman, it is my great personal and honor to present our commander in chief, the president of the united states of america, barack obama. [applause] >> thank you. please be seated.

thank you order extraordinary service to our country and your taros commitment to our veterans, eric shinseki. leon panetta, chairman dempsey and mrs. dempsey, our wonderful veterans service organizations for the extraordinary work that you do for nation's heroes, to all who attend to and watch over this sacred cemetery, above all, to every active duty member, guardsman, and veteran of the united states armed forces. there are many honors and responsibilities that come with this job. but none are more humbling then serving as your commander in chief.

i am proud to be with some many of you here today. here, our heroes come to rest. we come to show our gratitude. you moments ago, and laid a wreath to pay tribute to all who love given their lives to our country. even though this is a day we really honor america's veterans, we gather today in sullom respect -- solemn respect, mindful that we are guests here, mindful that many veterans not far from there are tracing their fingers over black granite for friends who never came home. they expect us to do all we can to bring every missing american service member home to their families.

to all our nation's veterans, whether you fondant divided by now or samara, you are part of an unbroken chain of men and women who have served this country with honor and distinction. on behalf of a proud and grateful nation, we thank you. when i spoke here on the state two years ago, i said there would be a day before long one this generation of servicemen and women would begin to step out of uniform, and i made them a promise. i said that when your tour ends, you touched our soil, you'll be home in an america that is forever here for you, just as you have been there for us. [applause]

for many, that day has come. over the past decade, more than 5 million americans have worn the uniform of the united states armed forces. of these, 3 million step forward after the attacks of september 11, knowing full well that they could be sent into harm's way. in that time, we have served in some of the world most dangerous places. their service has been selfless, their accomplishments have been extraordinary. in iraq, they have battled april insurgency and given the rocky people the opportunity to forge a better future. in afghanistan, they have pushed back the taliban, and it al qaeda, delivered the

ultimate justice to osama bin laden. concert with our allies, they have helped end gaddafi's dictatorship and returned libya to its people. because of their incredible efforts, we can stand here today and say with confidence that the tide of war is proceeding. -- receding. just a few weeks, the long war in iraq will finally come to an end. [applause] our transition in afghanistan is moving forward. our troops are coming home. [applause] for many military families, this holiday season will be a

season of homecomings. over the next five years, more than 1 million americans in uniform will transition back to civilian life, joining the nearly 3 million who have done so over the past decade and embraced a proud new role, the role of veteran. this generation of service members, this 9/11 generation has borne the burden of our security direct a hard decade of sacrifice. our service men and women make up less than 1% of americans, but also more than 1 million military spouses and two million children and millions more parents and relatives, all of whom have shared the strains of deployment and sacrifice on behalf of the country that we love. only 27 years old on average, is young men and women have shattered -- they came of age in an era when some

institutions failed to live up to their responsibilities, but they chose to serve because > their cells. saw their country print -- they chose to serve a cause greater than their selves. they said, let's go. and they have earned their place among the greatest of generations. [applause] that is something for america to be proud of. that's the spirit america needs now. a stronger, nor spirit of service and of sacrifice.

that spirit says, what can i do to help? purposes when the country is challenged, i will do my part to meet that challenge. on this veterans day, let us commit ourselves to keep making sure that our veterans receiving the care and benefits that they have earned, the opportunity they defend and deserve, and let us welcome them home as what they are -- and interpol, the central part of our american family -- and intregral and when our men and women signed up to become a soldier or sailor or marine corps coastguardsman, to not stop being a citizen. -- they do not stop being a citizen. like so many of their

predecessors, today's veterans, looking to continue serving america however they can. a time when american needs all hands on deck, the skills and the strength to help lead the way. our government needs their sense of duty. of order the hiring of more veterans by the federal government -- that is what i have ordered the hiring of more veterans. [applause] our economy needs their tremendous talents and specialized skills. i challenged our business leaders to hire 100,000 post-9- 11 veterans and their spouses and yesterday many of these leaders joined michele to announce they will meet that challenge. [applause]

our communities have always drawn strength from our veterans' trichet. -- veterans leadership. think of all who have come and sell bonds in a quiet life of service. the doctor or a police officer, an engineer or an entrepreneur, as a mom or dad. in the process changed countless lives. other veterans seek investors from taking on any business to building a team of globe- trotting veterans who use skilled learned, not to halt after a natural disaster. are so many in this young generation who still feel that tug to serve but do not know quite where to turn. this veterans day, i ask every american to recruit our veterans. if you're a business owner, hire them.

onyou're a community leader, them to join your efforts. make a difference in the life of a veteran. that veteran can make an incredible difference in the life of your community. if you're a veteran looking for new ways to serve, check out serve.gov. if you're a civilian looking for new ways to support our veterans and our troops, joint michelle and joe biden in joining forces.gov. i know you can do -- find out where you can do. effort you make can have the biggest impact. i say this because recently i received a letter from a vietnam veteran. she was writing to tell me about

her own experience. she wanted to tell me about her son jeremy. now, jeremy is not deployed. army is not a veteran or in the military at all, as ballot as it -- as badly was to follow in the footsteps of his family and in last. -- enlist. jeremy has down's syndrome. chooses to serve or rican bass, -- where ihe can best. with his local the non veterans of america chapter in beaver, pennsylvania. he calls them the soldiers. day last spring he spent the day with several of these veterans, cleaning up a local highway. he worked tirelessly, wrote his mother. he never asked to take a break. did not stop to talk about his

beloved steelers. did not ask for anything to eat or drink. he only asked one thing, several times. "mom, will president obama be proud of me for helping the soldiers?" jeremy, allowing it to know, -- i want one you to know, yes yes i am proud of you, and your country is proud of you. thank you for serving your veterans. one young man's examples is one we must follow. after a decade of war, the nation we need to build is our own. just as our greatest generation left

a country recovering from depression and returned home to build the largest middle class in history, so now the 9/11 generation will play a pivotal role in the 24th century. -- 21st century. we know it will be hard. we have to overcome a new threats to our security and prosperity. we have to overcome the cynical voices warning that america's best days are behind us. if there's anything our veterans teach us is that there is no threat we cannot meet, there's no challenge we cannot overcome. america's best days are still ahead. are a people who defied those voices that insist otherwise. we are a country that does what is necessary for future generations to succeed. [applause] you are veterans fight so our children will not have to.

we build an event and learn so that we will know greater opportunities. america leads to the next generation here and around the world will know a more hopeful life on this earth. so today, i thank you all for making that possible. god bless you. -- god bless our veterans and our troops, and god bless america. [applause] >> please rise and join the young is states army band is singing "god bless america."

>> ♪ god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam god bless america my home sweet home god bless america my home sweet home ♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, remain

standing as we retire the colors. retire the colors. [patriotic music plays] [patriotic music plays]

♪ ♪

♪

>> this concludes the observance. please be seated for the departure of the president of the united states. thank you for joining us to honor those who served. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

[applause] ♪ >> arlington cemetery is in

virginia across the potomac river. it came a cemetery for the civil war dead and was owned by a confederate general. since then, veterans from each of the worst has been entered here. " begins a nine day trip attending the annual asia- pacific x " -- economic summit in honolulu. he will go to australia and indonesia where he lived as a child. then he will return for meetings with leaders of canada and mexico. although the meetings are the main focus, he has time for meetings with most of the top asian leaders. >> this c-span home page is easier to use. it features 11 video choices, making it easier for you to watch today's evens.

access our most popular series like washington journal and american history tv. we have added a channel finder so you can find work to watch our networks on cable or satellite systems. >> our series,tonight, the campy goldwater. after that, president obama @ of veterans day event at arlington national cemetery. and now, the life of their recall water has full project has profiled in c-span series, "the contenders." >> wherever he goes, he speaks out on the issues. he answers exactly where he stands on domestic and foreign policy. everywhere he goes, people are responding with enthusiasm for this new and different kind of

statement. barry goldwater has been constantly on the go. it is a grueling schedule. whenever he can, he catches a quick nap, here with his daughter peggy. and with his wife peggy. but soon it is back to the campaign where barry goldwater -- he is calling for courage and integrity and meeting problems. he is calling for an end to do- nothing policies. he is calling for a rebirth of individual freedom. >> we base our reliance on freedom. upon the free enterprise system. we reject, therefore, the ideas of the economic planners in washington. that a group of people sitting in washington can plan on what the country is going to make, where it is going to be made, the quality of the product, the price of the product, the wages to be made, the profits to be made, etc.

in simpler terms, this is called socialism. it has never worked in the history of the earth. it is not working today in countries where it has been tried. >> republican presidential candidates barry goldwater campaign in 1964. c-span's "the contenders" coming to you from phoenix, arizona. -- the goldwater institute in phoenix, arizona. we look at his political influence during the second half of the 20th century. we welcome you tonight and our audience at the goldwater institute and our three guests who will walk us through the life and political career of barry goldwater beginning with rick perlstein. he is the author of the bestselling book,." -- "barry goldwater -- before the storm." he has written for "the nation,"

and is also the author of the book "nixonland." also, darcy olsen. her editorials have appeared in "the washington journal" and "the national review." bill mcewen, he served two terms to the state legislature including one term in the senate. he has produced 90 documentaries including "barry goldwater, an american life." rick pearlstein, let's begin with you. he called himself a different kind of a candidate for a different kind of an election year. how so? >> i think the thing that made him most different is that he was a reluctant presidential candidate. if we think about all of the people running for president in 2012, we cannot say any of them are reluctant. it is a full-time job. it is consuming. ever since 1960 when the first group of people came to barry goldwater and tried to draft him and said we want to make to a -- we want you to be a presidential candidate, he would say that is the last thing on my mind. i don't want to run for

president. he once even said i do not have the brains to be president. [laughter] over and over again, he said we don't care. we are going to draft you. that is what happened. he pretty much was drafted by incredibly vociferous, passionate followers to raise money and build an organization on his own. >> we will talk about this letter. -- this later. the assassination of john kennedy. how did that influence his decision to go ahead in 1964? >> he was inching toward doing it in the fall of 1963. one of the reasons was president kennedy had introduced a civil rights bill that was beginning to build a strong backlash. there were people talking about president kennedy being vulnerable in 1964. goldwater was close to kennedy and he liked kennedy. when john kennedy was assassinated, it is hard to reconstruct the context in our minds. it was so harrowing for the american people. people blame extremists.

-- people blamed extremism. people blame the ideological politics that americans did not want to believe as part of their political system. barry goldwater immediately lost interest. in fact, it was another month and a half before he answered the call of one more group of people coming to him and begging him saying it was his duty to support the republican cause. -- the conservative cause, that he finally agreed to do it. >> "the conscience of a conservative" was the manifest of why he was running. the ideology that shaped him. in the piece of film we showed you, he talked about freedom and free enterprise and the failed socialist experiment that democrats were pushing in the 1960's. >> barry goldwater stood for one thing. he was very clear about it. that was freedom. that book today is just as relevant as it was when it was written 50 years ago. barry goldwater would say,

"circumstances change, principles do not." when he was getting ready to run for office, he said, "as i survey the landscape and look at the questions that might occur to me, the most important concern that i will have -- the most important question i will ask myself is, are we maximizing freedom?" that was the beginning and the end of his political analysis. >> take us back to 1964 and walk us through barry goldwater in the u.s. senate for two terms. what led him to this point on the national stage? >> really in a sense the simplicity of his perspective. simplicity as compared to more complicated politics. we have to go back. you have to look at barry goldwater in the context of his times. his family came here in the 1950's.

-- 1850's. he grew up in dusty little phoenix that had 8000 or 9000 people at the time. life was more simple here than it was in the east. >> arizona was not even a state. >> when he was born it was not a state for two or three more years. but his life style -- this was part of the old west at that time. it was not new york city and whatever. you have to look at barry goldwater from his family history, it meant a lot to him. up until world war ii, what was life like here? it was very simple. it was very unsophisticated. it was black and white. it was right and wrong. it was the old west. it was not the sophisticated east coast. i bring that up because that is what shapes -- where did he get these views which i call small l libertarian.

the very simple views about right and wrong and this and that. it was the context in which he grew up. you ask me a question but i cannot remember what the question was. [laughter] >> what led us to 1964, and what shaped his ideology in the 1950's? >> it was truthfully what i just said. it was simple. i do not mean that in a negative way. it was sort of simple. there was right and wrong. there was good and bad and this and that and the other. you get into world war ii which he served in. remember, world war ii was the major good vs. bad thing. and we get into the cold war and us with the soviet union. all of these things from barry goldwater's perspective were pretty black and white -- especially compared to today's politics where you don't know quite who is doing what to whom.

he was the personification of good versus bad, right versus wrong, whether you agree with him or not. he was the personification of that. i think that had a lot of appeal by the time the 1950's and certainly 1964 came about. >> i'm going to come back later and ask you about your impressions of him. rick pearlstine, let's focus on the 1964 race. you had other names in the race like governor scranton of pennsylvania who was in and out again. nelson rockefeller spent a lot of money to try to secure the nomination. walk us through how these candidates challenged barry goldwater. and ultimately how he got the nomination. >> the republican party was a different institution then it is now. it was controlled by moderates and even liberals. the entire ideology of the party system was different. each party had in it both conservatives and liberals. the democratic party had very

conservative members in the south and liberals in the north. the republicans had a isolationist conservative wing from the midwest and a liberal wing from the northeast. what the barry japanes goldwater campaign was all about was trying to take over the party from the bottom up -- the bottom up being these conservative ideological activists. we talk about the bottom-up, but they had their meetings and country clubs and very fancy places. it was presumed that someone like nelson rockefeller was the heir apparent for the republican nomination. the idea that a conservative could have won the nomination was absolutely seen as impossible by the pundits. the pundits then said that america was a liberal center- left consensus. when dwight eisenhower not only

embraced the new deal but even expanded it, opening up something like the department of health, education, and welfare. instituting the interstate. a future -- a huge federal outlay. it was just presumed that the conservatism of the 1920's, which was seen as something that have gotten us into the depression was no longer relevant to modern life. >> in your book, you point out two key primaries that were critical in 1964. oregon which nelson rockefeller won and a california which barry goldwater won. >> california was an absolutely fascinating knock down drag out political fight. i talked earlier about how barry goldwater had these impassioned supporters who would do whatever they want even if barry goldwater told them not to do it. these are people from groups like the john birch society. some were segregationists. they were considered far right,

as they were called at times, extremists. they were basically willing to knock on doors until their knuckles were bloody. they were willing to sabotage other campaigns. it was seen as the fight for civilization itself. because the other candidates -- the liberal candidates were seen as these sort of harbingers of the socialism that they believed was destroying civilization itself. it was incredibly impassioned. >> two years after richard nixon lost his governorship, he was still a player in the republican party in 1964. according your book, he was trying to figure out a way the party might turn to him if they did not want rockefeller or barry goldwater. >> you mention the oregon primary. he established a secret boiler room in which people were hired -- yes, richard nixon -- in which people were hired to make phone calls to voters saying, would it not be a neat idea if

richard nixon was drafted to be president? [laughter] yes, this is richard nixon we are talking about. someone found out about it. a camera crew showed up. richard nixon was scheming and he was always hoping that barry goldwater and rockefeller would knock each other out. there was a cartoon that showed them having a shootout in the middle of an old western town. richard nixon was rubbing his hands. richard nixon's political undertaker's parlor. [laughter] >> we as always want to hear from you. our phone lines are open. the telephone numbers are on the screen. we also will get questions from the audience. we will show you political ads from 1964.

you remember this campaign. how did lyndon johnson run against barry goldwater? what was his tactic? >> rottenness. he ran a very smart campaign. he made barry goldwater the issue as opposed to the issues being the issue. barry goldwater was painted as a crazy person. there were things put out by the johnson campaign that some groups of psychiatrists and a america came out with a -- some groups of psychiatrists in america came out with a statement that barry goldwater was mentally ill. some of you probably remember that. and then there was the 10, 9, 8, 7 -- the nuclear bomb commercial which only aired one time. it got a lot of attention. it was designed by and bill moyers, actually. it was a totally "do the guy in" kind of campaign.

>> it is important to realize the nuclear stuff did not come out of nowhere. in his book he made a strong -- in "conscience of a conservative," he made a strong argument that a craven fear of death had crept into the american psyche. people were so afraid of nuclear war that they did not want to confront the soviet union. there was a good reason people were afraid to can be to -- to confront the -- confront the soviet union all out war would have meant the end of civilization itself. it freaked people out that if we are afraid of going to war with the soviet union, we are on a path to surrender. that was a genuinely frightening notion, especially after the cuban missile crisis when people came within hours of armageddon itself. so they thought. he did have some very unconventional ideas about the necessity of confronting the soviet union had on militarily.

-- head on the militarily. >> we will talk a little later on about the iconic daisy ad. we have put together some 1964 ads to get a sense of the issues and personality of that campaign. [phone buzzing] >> this particular phone only rings in a serious crisis. even in the hands of a man who has proven himself responsibly. vote for president johnson on november 3. >> the people ask barry goldwater. >> i have a question for mr. goldwater. i am sente afford. -- cynthia ford. we keep hearing about hot wars, cold war, and brushfire wars. i have an older brother who is serving in the armed forces. i want to know what he will do to keep us out of a war. >> let me assure you here and now, i have said that in every corner of the land and i will continue to say it, a goldwater-

miller administration will mean once more that the present policy of strength through peace that was the hallmark of the eisenhower administration. it served the cause of freedom and avoided the war during the last republican administration. it will do so again. we are the party of preparedness and the party of peace. >> in your heart, you know he is right. vote for barry goldwater. >> on october 24, 1963, barry goldwater said the nuclear bomb is merely another weapon. merely another weapon? vote for president johnson. the stakes are too high for you to stay home. >> graft! swindle! juvenile delinquency!

crime! riots! hear what barry goldwater has to say about our lack of moral leadership. >> the leadership of this nation has a clear challenge to go to work effectively and go to work immediately to restore proper respect for law and order in this land and not just prior to election day either. america's greatness is the greatness of her people. let this generation make a new market for that greatness. let this generation set a standard of responsibility that will inspire the world. >> in your heart, you know he is right. vote for barry goldwater. >> door the olson is the president of this institute. >> you look back at those campaigns from 1964, your reaction? >> a lot of different thoughts

come to mind when i see that array including how many of these commercials inspired modern-day political commercials. >> what i take away is the slogan "in your heart, you know he is right." i think the american people proved that 15 years later when they elected ronald reagan when he campaigned on an identical platform but with different packaging and a little bit more loss. -- gloss. this messaging -- you were talking about with the soviet union and how barry goldwater had too much bravado and it was scaring people. that is what ronald reagan run -- ran on and won with. it was exactly the right public policy to pursue. i think that speaks a lot about the timing and what is happening socially when you are campaigning and how important that is and how it influences whether or not you get through with your ideas. >> two very different approaches. tony schwartz was behind a lot of the lyndon johnson had.

-- ads. a different tactic by the goldwater campaign. >> i think about how embarrassingly atrocious they were. the barry goldwater team were not very professional for all kinds of interesting reasons. barry goldwater wanted to have people around him he felt comfortable with. he hired his arizona friends who were not national political professionals. the lyndon johnson advertisements were made by an -- the most sophisticated advertising agency. they produced one of barry goldwater the barry ads which is -- which was goldwater in talking to eisenhower. it was a total bust. they said i will never give to this campaign again. this guy's name was chuck lichtenstein. he has passed away. he said i never had a lot of experience with tv. you mean you had never produced a tv commercial? he said he never watched tv. [laughter]

that was the barry goldwater campaign. >> we are going to be showing during the course of this evening some of the documentary that you have put together -- some of the original work. you worked with barry goldwater how long to get this put together? >> i think specifically on the process probably six months. >> was there one thing you did not know about barry goldwater and his politics that you learned in putting this together? >> his language. [laughter] >> elaborate. >> he has a very colorful language. i was going to tell a story, but i really have to clean it up. i will tell the story. i will clean it up. one of the last times i was with him, i walked into his living room and he was sitting in an barca lounger watching tv. i said, how are you doing? he looked at me and said -- here is the clean up part -- the "f'ing" raccoons are "f'ing" in my fireplace.

i said what? people did not know but we have raccoons in the desert. i did not even know until that day, actually. a mother raccoon had climbed up on his roof and come down the chimney. what do you call the thing in the fireplace? the great. -- grate. she gave birth to a litter of raccoons. this was not in his home, it was in the ham radio shack he had built next door. the raccoons were doing their business so to speak in the fireplace. that was his comment. >> on that note, let's go to martin from texas. we look at the life and career of barry goldwater and his 1964 presidential bid. good evening, martin. >> good evening. the reason i am calling in on veterans day. i happen to be a retired captain, civil engineer corps,

from illinois. i like to tell my friends not so much the history of how many times i met barry goldwater accidentally but i was first influenced being a democratic can man from illinois where my -- a young man from illinois where mine cousin became the supreme court justice, head of state of illinois, attorney- general. i will not go on. it was a world war ii texas a&m colonel in the air force -- excuse me, army and later airforce that influenced me to vote for barry goldwater. interestingly enough, i like to say to my texas friends, i am one of the few guys left that remembers on monday hearing fdr when i was 7 years old give the day of infamy speech. i ran into barry goldwater a couple of times in a little restaurant that he looked on -- he loved on connecticut avenue.

one time i was there my boss to happen to be a civilian world war ii pilot, i introduced barry goldwater to my boss. my boss said, why did you introduce me to the senator? i said, he knows another robert stafford. he got such a kick out of this. how long have you known barry goldwater? i said i have only met him a couple of times in the restaurant. anyway, the man was a fantastic individual. the only time i went to the senate was when barry goldwater was presiding. this guy was a beautiful man. one last memory is, i went to wright patterson air force base, happen to be going there on business. i was a civil engineer. my wife and young son were there. i said, why don't you go down to the museum. that was the day barry

goldwater and jimmy stewart dedicated the first wing of the museum. they both came by and shook hands with my wife and son. i wished i had had that experience to meet the other general jimmy stewart. anyway, i wanted to share that. what a wonderful man he was. >> thank you for the call. he was a pilot. he was a ham radio operator. he took a lot of pictures. >> it is important to recognize that a lot of powerful rich people, which is what barry goldwater was, used their power to get out of military service. he used his power to get into -- he pulled strings to get into the military. he was a pretty old guy. he took on duty in a very dangerous air route. in that china and burma theater. they called it the aluminum

trail because so many planes went down. he has this fascination with flying the latest military hardware. one time in 1964 he had this very sensitive meeting with lyndon johnson and about how they would handle the issue of race riots. london johnson spent hours of preparing. there was an entire memo that was going to guide his incredibly delicate negotiations. the meeting lasted 15 seconds and then barry goldwater was like, when do i get to try this new plane that is coming out? 1964t's go back to the campaign. it was a landslide for lyndon johnson. why such a disparity? was barry goldwater misunderstood in the campaign? >> a lot of reasons. first of all, people were terrified of the prospect of nuclear war. that he never really back down from. people -- lyndon johnson was dishonest on issues like vietnam.

he said he was not going to send american boys 7,000 miles away. there was a bumper sticker that showed up the next year and it said -- i was told if i voted for barry goldwater there would be a war in vietnam. i voted for barry goldwater, and there was. his ideological time had not come. also, i mentioned the atrocious campaign he ran. i found a memo that inspired the -- they fired at the -- they fired the research staff. i found a formal letter they sent out to political science professors and every state. it said, dear proffesor, please send us any books or pamphlets about the political situation in "insert state here." this was not a professional operation. >> we are welcoming questions from the audience here at the goldwater institute. here's one from up front.

>> i am a retired cpa. i have lived in central phoenix for 53 years. as a person who knew barry goldwater and worked with him in the community, i knew him to be a man of impeccable integrity and who is dedicated to the proposition of personal responsibility. when he ran for president, it seemed to me from my perspective that the pundits you mentioned earlier went out of their way to print and broadcast atrocious and dishonest statements about him. there is a national magazine to this day i do not take because of the things they said about barry goldwater that were out right and true. -- that are out right untrue. my question is, why did the national press and so many prominent people go out of their way to be so vindictive against a man who based upon what has already been said was going to lose? >> i would say a couple of things. a lot of his followers were very frightened.

you can charge that to barry goldwater or you can say that was not his fault. he did not like to distance himself from people who were devoted to him. you also have to understand the context of the times. fascism and nazism was a living memory for just about every adult. the idea of people getting together with such rage against liberals. when barry goldwater did a very famous speech at the 1960 convention in which she said, -- in which he said, conservatives, let's grow up. recanted this party back. he said we need to defeat the democrats working for the destruction and this nation. -- destruction of this nation. passions were very high. political passions of that intensity, of that magnitude were greatly feared. in an exaggerated way, and he was kind of caught up in that in

an unfair way. had to deal with the context of the belief that if people were allowed to bring rain in the political system, we but not be -- we would not be able to control the consequences. this was a time, of course, when civil rights terrorism in places like mississippi. people were burning down churches. people were assassinating civil rights workers. people were saying why is it in a place like mississippi where all of this stuff is going on, and the sheriffs were not arresting these people, was voting 87% for barry goldwater? >> the 1964 debate and bill, a key part of the process we will talk about that. he did vote against it. we'll go to george joining us from manassas, virginia. welcome to "the contenders" program and our look at barry goldwater. >> thank you very much. thanks for doing this show. my parents volunteered for barry goldwater.

they firmly believed in the ideals and what the man said. my question to y'all was he more of a libertarian? or more of a serve? -- or more of a conservative? there is a difference if you look at it. >> dr. olson? >> well, you're right in it there with that question. liz book was called "the conscience of a conservative." she felt like he was a -- he felt like he was saying -- was a conservative, that he was a true conservative who understood that this nation was founded on the concept of constitutionally limited government, and that was true in all spheres of life, that you couldn't pick and choose where you would have government involvement. if it wasn't in the constitution, then it wasn't constitutional and therefore the government shouldn't be involved. so today, i mean there are a lot man tell. --there are a lot of

libertarians that where that mantle -- wear that mantle. a lot of different folk miss the tea party movement and candidates for president. i won't be the one to define him as a libertarian or conservative. he used the term conservative, and i think that what he stood for was as close to what the founding fathers stood for as any prominent person in our history. >> this book, what personality came through from barry goldwater? what did you learn how to who he was as a person? >> i think what people have been saying, that he was a guy who shot from the hip and he didn't care what people thought of him. you know, much to his detriment often. people talk about him as an honorable man. i think he was an honorable man. but by the same token, i think ideologically he could be very naive. so i mentioned the civil rights terrorism that was going on in mississippi. the fact that people were being

shot in cold blood for doing things like helping people register to vote. he never denounced that. he said his appeal to people of the south was i'm not going to as an arizonan tell people in mississippi what they should do. when civil rights are being that egregiously violated, i think there's a kind of which side are you on question. so i think that his heart was in the right place. he believed he was doing the right thing. but i think he had a certain myopia when it came to a real ordeal that he avoided at that time. >> we have put together -- although, go ahead. >> i want to talk about the libertarian conservative. you have to look in the context of his time. ifouldn't be surprised during his life, and certainly while he was in the senate, he

probably never heard the word libertarian. that wasn't even a word. -- that was heard of at the time. i call him a small l libertarian, because he basically believed in freedom of choice as he came later in his career after politics. he was outspoken in favor of gay rights. a woman's right to choose. all sorts of things like that. and some of my friends would say oh, senile and he became a big liberal in the end. he changed. he didn't change. his philosophy was always. it's up to you as an individual to have the right to decide, whether it was about gay rights or abortion rights or labor unions, the whole thing from the 50's where he's totally misunderstood, i might note. he was a small l libertarian. today we have, you know, all sorts of politicians and presidential hopefuls running

around talking about libertarian, libertarian this and that. you have to keep that in the context of the times. >> you've done a perfect job of setting up this next piece. the video we want to share with our audience. to give you a sense of the personality and style of barry goldwater. >> he talks so fast. you know, sitting there trying to listen to you reminds me of trying to read "playboy" magazine with my wife turning the pages. [laughter] >> i happen to think i'm in a pretty tough race. i'm spending the money that i legally can. that's the answer. in fact, it's a stupid question, if you don't mind my saying so. >> i'll read the record. >> i never said that airplane wouldn't fly. >> you said you wouldn't.

>> people all over the country keep talking about legalized gambling. and i thought we already had it. it's called election day. [applause] >> i now realize what it takes to be a president. it helps to have a brother sent to the gas station drinking beer all day. when i was campaigning many that razor-thin election in 1964, i should have told everyone that dean was my brother. [laughter] >> you wanted to jump in earlier. >> he actually pioneered what would become social

conservatism. he gave a very sharp speech about the moral decay of nation. it was mormon tabernacle in salt lake city. but he also used some of that salty language that we need to censor when he referred to the christian rights. -- christian right. jerry follow will, said in 1981 -- falwell said in 1981 that all good christians should be very concerned about sandra day o'connor. if i may, he said all good christians should kick jerry falwell in the ass. >> paul, you're on. >> i was just curious to know what your panel thinks. how would he have handled vietnam differently than lyndon

johnson did? would he have escalated the war, or have seen it as a civil war between the knot and south -- between the north and south vietnamese? >> thanks for the question. >> whether he would have been successful or not, i don't know. but i was of that generation. vietnam war under lyndon johnson was gradualism. we're going to tighten the screw and eventually they're going to give up. yeah right. i think if barry had been president, and i'm not saying it would have been a good move or a bad move. i'm not sure. but i think he would have come in with with what later became the co-lynn powell doctrine. -- but colin powell doctrine. if you're going to go to war, you have to go with the attitude that you want to win it in the next hour. that's his attitude. then he said we lost the war in

vietnam for one reason. the politicians tried to run the war. in his quote. and politicians don't know their ass from a hot rock about running a war. that was his quote. i think he would have taken a far more aggressive approach to it, as compared to johnson's gradualism, which dragged out almost as long as our current wars. >> what kind of a president would he have been? dorothy olson. >> barry would have been something we don't see too often today. i think he would have been a very honest president. i think he would have been very candid as he was his whole life. that was the way he campaigned how he was after office. i think that candor is something that people loved

about barry goldwater and it's one of the reasons that so many people sought out barry goldwater, even after he was in office and he was so well- respected and liked by so many people. because you knew with barry goldwater where you stood. he always put his principles first. he kind of had a tenure to -- tin ear to sometimes messaging and what people might think. and he put his principles before partisanship, before party, before politics. it's hard to say whether he would have been able to work with congress that way. but it's an exercise that i would have liked to have seen. >> we are in week 10 of "the contenders" series. we are in phoenix, arizona. the goldwater institute. we have an audience here as well. we'll get another question right up front. >> thank you. kevin lane.

prescott, arizona. i recall barry was interviewed in the 1980's when russia had just gone into afghanistan. i think this shows how pressing that he was on many issues. his quote was he had been in those hills and a right-minded goat would not wander into those hills. he forecasted that russia would lose. and obviously, we're quite bogged down in afghanistan. so my question to the panel is maybe some other examples of his wisdom in his life as far as being ahead of his time. >> you're shaking your head. >> i think that is a great question and goes back to what kind of a president would he have been, and one of the things we know he would have done differently is he would not have vastly expanded the welfare state in america. he was fighting against that. he said there were all kinds of federal programs that were unconstitutional that needed to be repealed. he was unabashed about that. he certainly did not agree with the levels of taxation that we had then, let alone the levels

of taxation that we have now. he was very against the type of progressive taxation that was put into place and has become more and more predominant. he felt like taxation should be minimal and fair per person, so if you give 10%, i give 10%. rick gives 10%. rick is going to pay 90%, you're not going to pay anything. so those are some major differences. also, since that time, and certainly lyndon johnson worked on this as well, but this vast expansion of government into all of these social arenas, including education, for which there is no constitutional authority. all of those things are things that barry goldwater bar would have fought hard against. >> let's go back to where your book begins and talk about his influence here in arizona as he tried to build the republican party in the late 1940's. >> it's a fascinating story. it was a democratic state.

when he ran for the senate, i think that there were 92 members of the lower house. it might have been 96, and two of them were democratic. he came from a republican family, his mom was a americanner. -- and amid a westerner -- a ner.ester she was a republican. also, for the new defense industries that were opening up in arizona. >> and before he entered politics, he did what? >> he was an executive at the family department store. he was actually, interestingly enough, we talk about him being a straight-shooting guy. he was actually the marketing guy for the department store. but he -- a guy named eugene polian moved to phoenix and he was a newspaper publisher. he was actually dan quayle's father-in-law, and he really wanted to help build a republican party, and also build a nonpat syrian city government -- nonpartisan city

governments to build up what was a corrupt town. barry goldwater was involved in both. in 1950, he was the campaign manager for a guy named howard pyle, who ran for governor, and being barry goldwater, he flew howard pyle around the state in his plane. he would descend like a bronze god to these little towns and people would say wow, which one's the candidate? but here's the thing. when he ran for senate, he decided that he would run for senate by building a republican party. so he recruited people for every office in the state. someone said why are you qualified to run for senate in arizona? he was such a first citizen of arizona, his answer was i can call 10,000 people in the state by their first name. he build the republican party in arizona. >> and i'm going to call on you for just a moment, because you remember going to the goldwater department store. >> correct. when i first came to arizona in 1970, i worked for the old adams hotel, which was in downtown, and i bought a bathing suit at the goldwater department store on central avenue.

and at the time, you talk about him being in marketing, they gave you with every purchase a little vile of water that has -- vial of water that has gold flakes in it. and everybody that had flown in from texas to buy that hotel all when i went back to the hotel all ran down and bought a bathing suit so they could get a vile of water with gold flakes in it. so he was good at marketing. >> i just wanted to comment about the 1952 election. barry ran against ernest mcfarland, the majority leader of the united states senate at that time. very had supported mcfarland in earlier elections. he raised money for him and all that. barry didn't like or was upset with harry truman, which is ironic today because what former president was barry most like, harry truman, actually.

ell harry.harr but barry told me many times, he says i ran for president, i knew i didn't have a chance in hell of winning. but even in the senate, he didn't think he had a chance of winning that 1952 senate race. at all. so maybe he was building a republican party. he had been on the city council for two years and then he sort of decided to run against harry truman in most senses. but he didn't. he was not some big political organizer who said let's build a republican party here. it was sort of natural. but it wasn't like he had some big plan to do that. he was just running thinking he didn't have a chance in hell of winning. >> well, we came across some early film of senator barry goldwater after he was elected to the senate. but before coming to washington, d.c. let's look. >> speaking of washington,

where you're going, there is a great deal of talk on the part of the republicans doing the campaign about communism in washington and the mess in washington. do you anticipate finding anything like that when you take your seat in the senate? >> well, i don't know. i can't say. i think that there must be communism in washington, but i would hate to stand up and say there is without knowing more about it. >> let me put it this way, is there any fear or concern about communism and about the so called mess in washington among the people who voted for you out in arizona? >> i think the fear of communism is one of the underlying reasons for the success of the republican party in this election, all over the country. >> now that the republican party is in, do you think there will be any letting down of this concern, any complacency on the part of the people who voted for you? >> i think there's already happened. >> in what way? >> i am amazed to walk around new york to find in my own communities -- well, general

eisenhower has been elected. the new deal has been thrown out. we can go back to our work the same as usual. and as always happens in politics, the man who benefits the most from good government goes on with the least interest in it, and that's mr. average citizen. >> are you going to do anything to point out the need for continuing concern over the situation in washington? >> i'll never be quiet about it. >> from 1952, never be quiet, that became his mantra as senator and candidate in 1964. who helped him win the 1952 race? >> he had a very slick operator, a name familiar to arizona in steven shadic. he wasn't necessarily the most favored guy. -- savory guide. he once wrote a book on "how to win an election." he said he adopted the tactics

of a mouse at town -- mao tse tung. he would do things like -- they sent out 50,000 postcards all hand signed by volunteers from barry. he would do things like -- he said if the situation is profishes, you can get millions of people to vote for someone who has the absolute opposite ideology that they do. so he was a very tough campaign manager. >> we have a question here in the audience. please introduce yourself and go ahead. >> good evening. my name is richard muser. i was 16 months old when we move to arizona, so i claim to be a native. it's a pleasure to hear the information about senator goldwater from so many experts. the reason i am here is because in the second grade, i met a gentleman named bill mccuban and we have been friends since then. in 1964, i was a lowly specialist fourth class in the army in fort benning, georgia. i wasn't old enough to vote at that time because arizona was 21 and i was only 20.

when i listened to the senator discuss using low yield nuclear weapons in vietnam, it made sense to me as a military person, and it made sense to a lot of my fellow soldiers at the same time. the point that the johnson campaign exaggerated, the impact of using these huge hiroshima bombs was a total exaggeration. he was an air force man. he knew what low yield meant and what it would do. and my question is what was wrong with the term low yield that i believe i only heard it once or twice. >> rick, you wrote about that in

the book. >> yeah, i actually talked to one of the physicists that design some of those low yield nuclear weapons. he said it was absolutely insane to believe that you could contain the explosions from those weapons. so i'm not so sure that it's true. >> i want to comment, only because dick music brought this up. we grew up in the same neighborhood over by 25th drive north of thomas road. in about 1950 through 1954, that period, my father would wake me and my brothers up at 4:00 in the morning on a couple of occasions. we would go up on to the roof of our house and sit facing north. my dad had his watch and he would tell us there's one minute, 30 seconds. and we would see nuclear atomic bombs explode at the test sites aboveground, nuclear bombs exploding on the test sites in

nevada, which was, what, 300 miles away. i mean, four or five times, i thought -- i'm one of the few people alive today who's ever seen a nuclear bomb explode. maybe some of you have, too. hopefully nobody else ever will again. but this was a ritual, we'd watch the nuclear bombs going off in nevada. the point is, i thought why are we dropping nuclear bombs on nevada? i thought they were on our side. [laughter] but realizing that whether it was 250 or 300 miles away to those test sites. it would light up. it's like summer flashlight thing, if you know what that means, except it the light would stay in the air longer tham summer lightning. -- than summer lightning. wow, that's 300 miles away. think about that. that kind of thing is what contributes to the great fear of the soviet union and nuclear war.

>> let me put a domestic issue on the table. organized labor and the legislative record that senator goldwater had. >> extremely important in barry goldwater's rise. of course, arizona became the first right to work state, the circle that he was in, his friends, people like dennis mckitchle, he was the labor lawyer for the big mining company. he argued before the supreme court. the idea that fighting labor power was essential to conservative politics was absolutely part of what barry goldwater was all about. he basically rose to national prominence in the late 1950's on two kind of wings. the first was he gave a speech attacking dwight eisenhower for a big budget, which he called squander bus spending and the

siren song of socialism. the other was there was a big labor hearing in the late 1950's run by senator mcclellan. and it was meant to take on jimmy hoffa's corruption. barry goldwater kept on interrupting. he would say things like well i would rather have jimmy hoffa stealing my money than walter rutha stealing my freedom. walter rutha was head of the united auto workers, who pioneered like the automatic cost of living increase. he was fighting to make the operations and corporations much more transparent. he was the most political aggressive labor leader in history. by taking on sbun like walter rutha, businessmen flocked to barry goldwater as their savior. these were the guys, these businessmen were the people who ended up organizing the group that under barry goldwater's nose without him being involved at all put together a conscience of conservative and

first put him forward as a presidential candidate. >> can i disagree with what he said? >> sure. >> you can always disagree with what i said. >> my experience with barry and interviewing him, he wasn't -- i'm convinced he wasn't against unions. i mean, the small libertarian thing. he said many times in our shows, to join a union or not join a union, it's their personal voice. -- choice. he was most vociferous about corruption in the unions and he really didn't like the -- what do you call it? the closed shop, where you had to join a union in order to have a job. >> doesn't like weak unions. -- he likes weak unions. >> well, -- that is your view. >> i'll build on what you're saying there. i think that's absolutely

correct. >> it's 2-1. >> he believed that unions were an expression of human freedom. if you joined them voluntary. he believed wholeheartedly in freedom of association. he thought that was great if you wanted to join. what he didn't believe in is what unionism has become, which is compulsory, forced membership. and that was something that he vehemently opposed. so yuff a situation today where -- you have a situation today where they're trying to take away the right to vote by secret ballot when you're forming a union. that was something that he opposed. there was the issue of -- what was his other big issue -- >> right to work. >> yeah, right to work. where they were making membership compulsory and it was a condition of employment, which he said that is against everything we believe in as americans. he fought for right to work laws in the states. but he didn't oppose the idea of associating unions. he opposed this idea of what unions have become, which is forcing people to do things against their will, completely

contrary to everything that barry goldwater believed. >> marvin has been waiting. we'll go to him next in los angeles. >> thank you for your program. i'm wondering if barry goldwater were alive today with his life span of points of view, could he get the nomination of the republican party? that's the first part of my question. and number two, based on the extreme right wing state of some leaders in arizona politics, as in the election last tuesday were jerry lewis defeated a leader in the senate, how would barry goldwater have stood in the ideas of the current plan -- republican party in the state of arizona? thank you very much. >> thank you. so two points. first, could barry goldwater get the nomination today? >> no, because he would have been vetoed by the christian rights. -- the christian right. i'm looking over some of these

quotes. they're stunning. this is what he said in 1981. can anyone look at the carnage in iran, the bloodshed in northern ireland and the bombs bursting in lebanon and question the dangers of injecting religious issues into the affairs of states? he believed very firmly by the end of his political career that people who enter politics from a religious motivation are so impassioned and so impervious to compromise that it made the give and take necessary for politics impossible. which is so ironic, because in 1964, extremism and defensive liberty is no vice. -- extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. that's what he was accused of at the time. but he did come to an extreme firm and extreme passioned notion, he didn't even want pat robertson to run for president in 1988. he thought that was a violation of the separation of church and state. >> let me give with the first sentence in the first chapter of "conscience of a conservative." because barry goldwater said "i have been much concerned that so many people today with conservative instincts feel

come pelled to polings for -- -- gil compelled to apologize for them. >> yeah, this book "conscience of a conservative," i think to this day remains the best statement of what it means to be a conservative in this country. he is so clear. and i think earlier on, you had talked about -- you used the word "simple." i think for me, effs thinking prince -- i was thinking principled. that is all i was. not simpleton or simplicity. but it was clean. it was clear. and those principles are beautifully outlined in that book and it is just as good of a read today as it was back in the day. >> as an author and writer, i have to give some credit to the guy who actually wrote the book, which is a fellow named brent bow bush bozell. barry goldwater might have read it, but he definitely wasn't involved in the production of the book, which is a fascinating story i tell in my

book. >> as he spoke to the delegates at the republican convention, which nominated vice president richard nixon. >> as an american who loves this republic and as a member of the senate, i am committed to the republican philosophy and to the republican candidates. it is my belief the people of this land will return a republican administration to office in 1960. [applause] i might suggest in all seriousness that you and i will not have discharged our full responsibility unless we also return an effective republican congress. i would not imply that our party is the repository of all virtue, that only republicans can see the truth. that only republicans served

noble virtues. i must insist that those in control of the democratic party have announced their total commitment to what i regard a lopsided side of man and that puts americans and a shameful condition of everlasting dependence on the state. [applause] i have visited the people in the cities, states, and the towns of our nation. i can tell you the men and women face the future with courage. they are eager to accept their responsibilities. they want to do work and sacrifice to defend our freedom. it is our path as delegates of the 1960 republican convention to make certain the republican

voter is provided with an opportunity to make a meaningful choice between the two philosophies competing today for acceptance and our world. the philosophy of the stomach or the philosophy of the whole man. [applause] >> as you watched barry goldwater in 1960, how did that set the stage for his stake in 1964? >> it is the red meat of the conservative movement. he ended his speech by saying, grow up. let's get to work. i think that is the last line of his speech there. he was not, who was that republican guy who ran campaigns the last few years? >> karl rove? >> he was not karl rove and all that type of thing at all.

he had feelings of, let's get to work. let's take this back. he had no use for richard dixon, especially later. probably no use for rockefeller other than they were probably friendly. he was saying, let's get to work. >> i wrote my senior thesis in 1971 on the treatment of the barry goldwater campaign. i had the good fortune to spend a full day interviewing the office of theodore white in his office of manhattan. he had vivid memories of the weeks he had spent on the campaign trail with barry goldwater in preparation for the 1964 installment of his famous series. he told me he came away with the tour with great admiration for barry goldwater and with contempt for the liberal media

he was a part of and what he thought was doing so much to demonize barry goldwater and distort the case that barry goldwater was trying to make to the people. he told me barry had tried earnestly to educate people about the dangers of concentrating power. the specific issue that led to his opposition to the civil rights bill that year. white also said that when goldwater came to fear discussing civil rights issues further on the campaign trail might worsen racial tensions, he met with president lyndon johnson and the two agreed to take the issues out of their campaigns. the agreement really cost barry goldwater votes among a lot of middle-class whites. one must think, he told me how dismayed he had been when he got back from new york after his barry goldwater interval. his liberal media friends

received him as if he were a jew just to escape from a nazi death camp. he astonished those men are saying what a worthy candidates barry goldwater was. i thought you would like to know. >> thank you for your call. >> he know, it is really interesting of the civil-rights issue that barry goldwater did get a bum rap from the media and continues to get one when you hear people talking about his civil rights record and how he did not vote for the civil rights act or he did not speak out enough. really, he must not have had that in his heart. that could not have been further from the truth about to barry goldwater was. in the goldwater department store, they have integrated the store long before anyone else had done that. he really did have a color blind heart.

anybody you meet to will tell you that. anybody who met barry goldwater would tell you that. one of the greatest stories that i love about -- that relates to this is -- we do not know if it is true or not. i was talking to his son, but the way it goes is that he went to a very fancy golf course in bel air and wanted to play a round of golf. he said, you cannot play here because you are jewish. he responded by saying, you know, i am only half jewish. do you think i can play nine holes? >> let me say something about civil rights real quick. barry goldwater and harry rosenzweig as a city council members integrated the airport in the phoenix which had been segregated before. after world war ii the department of defense asked barry goldwater to organize the arizona air national guard

which had not existed before. he said, i will do it on one condition that it is racially integrated. they gave in and said, "fine." in the senate he voted for civil rights legislation can -- consistently into the early 60's. the only what he voted against was the final one. he voted against it for one reason and that was because a thing in there called the mrs. murphy law that would have said that if mrs. murphy wants to rent her spare bedroom out, that she could not discriminate. he has a longer history of pro civil rights activity. >> let me ask you about the relationship between barry goldwater and john kennedy. both can to the senate together in 1952. >> they had affection for each other. when barry goldwater was rising in the early 1960's, he was very much compared to john kennedy. this handsome, charismatic guy. there was a famous store they talked about campaigning together and writing the same campaign trail and debating

each other lincoln and douglas style. this is often taken as a testament of this old civil time. i suspect that john kennedy was speaking cynically and thinking if he could get this guy on a platform and forced into mouth his what were then unpopular views, i can wipe the floor with him. >> history changed in dallas on november 22, 1963 following the assassination of president kennedy. senator barry goldwater said this. >> he was a very decent fellow. he is the kind of an antagonist that i have always enjoyed. he would fight like a wildcat for his points and his principles. there was never anything personal about it. i imagine that i have debated

the president more on the floor of the senate than any other man. it never affected our friendship. we had some rather valid arguments in sessions of committee. it never affected our friendship. that is the kind of man you respect. the kind of man you like to work with and politics. >> after the assassination and before he entered the race in 1964, how ambivalent was the about running? >> he was ambivalent airport rolling toward running. one of the reasons he was so ambivalent after the assassination was because he knew the public would beat so on interest ability and the idea of having three presidents in the space of one year would be too much for people to care. >> a question here in the room. >> i had to keep good fortune of being in the formation of the

goldwater institute. i want to make a comment and a question. one of his unique features is he never sought publicity. that made him unusual for a politician. when webber tried to form the organization even with the perspiration of congressman kyl, james kelley and others, he was still reluctant. we wanted to have a reward in his name. he was reluctant again to step forward and have the award named after him. he is unusual in many ways. my question is, is there anybody to compare him with? we think of ronald reagan or maybe somebody like bob taft. is there anyone else we can compare barry goldwater to? >> not alive today. >> i would say two people. ron paul and ronald reagan. i think he compares to ron paul in that ron paul is a very straightforward speaker who

does not really care what the press thinks, but he just speaks from his heart about his ideas. it is his downfall. it was part of barry's downfall. also reagan likened that the core of his ideas that barry goldwater ran on ronald reagan letter implemented. ronald reagan had a smoother style. he was mr. hollywood. he had that wonderful smile and people loved him and he made people laugh. he ran basically on the same ideas that barry goldwater did and it brought over -- one in a landslide. sometimes when people say people did not like barry goldwater's ideas are there were not ready for them, i do not think that was a fair assessment. i think the assassination played a key role at that time. i think the poor messaging that barry goldwater did was a factor. i don't think it was the ideas.

i think it was the way they were sold. >> i think the liberal congressman from illinois speaks with equal forthrightness. she is just as principled as barry goldwater. >> bruce is joining us from california. go ahead with your question. >> thank you for this program. i am a liberal who has only voted for one republican in my life and that was barry goldwater. i guess my attitude at the time, kennedy was such a young and new generation, articulate, and johnson seemed to be so much the old politics. two things i wanted to mention that i have not heard here, a choice not an echo was one of his big things i thought.

the other point i wanted to make was there was a book called "a treason" that came out around the same time. this was basically john birch society. we had the birchers then and the birthers now. barry goldwater never really separated himself from that group. the night before the election, ronald reagan came on to boost barry goldwater's candidacy. a lot of the comments afterward was, maybe we got the wrong man. >> thank you for the call. we will talk about ronald reagan in about 20 minutes and show you a portion of what he spoke of toward the end of the 1964 campaign. >> this was absolutely scandalous itself. it was a book and argued every set back in america ever had was because there were secret communists infiltrating every part of the government. 20 million copies of this book were circulated.

rich businessmen would buy up thousands and thousands of copies and hand them out everywhere. they are right. barry goldwater did not denounce this stuff. he would rationalize it by saying that people know there is something wrong out there and this is pushing in the right direction. maybe i disagree with that, but he never denounced the john birch society. i think that was one of his achilles' heels. he humored extremists. >> he has been quoted so often. we want to show you that but put it in some sort of a context of what he said before and afterwards. >> anyone who joins us in all sincerity, we welcome. [applause]

those who do not care for our cause, we don't expect to enter our race in any case. [applause] and let our republicans so focused not be made fuzzy by on thinking and stupid labels. [applause] i would remind you that extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. [applause]

thank you. thank you. [applause] let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. [applause] the duty of the very system we republicans are pledged to

restore and revitalize the duty of the federal system of ours is and its reconciliation of diversity with unity. we must not see in difference of opinion, no matter how great so long as they are not inconsistent with what we have given each other in and through our constitution. [applause] our republican cause -- >> how does that speech president along the republican electorate and the voters at large? >> richard nixon wrote in his memoirs that when he heard that he clearly felt sick to his stomach. the reason for that was, they had an incredibly divisive convention. barry goldwater won the most

delegates by for because they organized it so well. many people in the party felt like they had stolen the party. the republican party was a moderate party and a conservative had one. what you are supposed to do, your role is to bind the wounds together of a divisive campaign. people can you night and go forward. instead, he seemed to be pushing in people's faces his acceptance of this notion of extremism. in the context of the time it meant things like the john birch society. it meant things like the southern segregationists who are changing their democratic affiliation to republican

affiliation. the public itself and the context of this kennedy assassination was the idea that the bottom had dropped out of civility, people wanting so much for normalcy, it really did seem like something once again that was frightening, that was strange, that was perverse. his numbers went way down. a week after that, there was a terrible riot and harlem. it increased their sense that barry goldwater was associated with these very frightening sources in american life. when people were riding in harlem, people were saying things like, they are shooting black people. this barry goldwater is happening. it shows the unfair paranoia that surrounded barry goldwater in this atmosphere in which people really felt that to the springs were being listened in america's consensus. >> good evening. welcome to the program. >> thank you. in 1986 congress passed a scholarship named after barry goldwater. i don't know if the irony every

skit them based on what i have heard and the panel about his ideology that a federal scholarship would go to students. i think his comments on his use of public education and if there is any known about how his feelings of congress awarding him the scholarship. >> thank you, matthew. >> i have not heard that. that is something i would like to learn more about. certainly it would be ironic if it was true. he looked at the constitution. he did not see any role in their given to the federal government to be involved in education. he spoke out against federal

involvement in education. he said, i don't want the federal government to educate my children. i don't what the state government to educate my children. i want to educate my children. if we can bring this up to modern times, what is so interesting and i think is a great tribute to barry goldwater is that arizona is one of the leading states in offering choices to parents -- school choice so people are not forced to go into government schools but can use tax money and take that to private schools or online tutoring. i think barry goldwater would have loved that and been crazy about that because this was something that he believed -- at bottom he believes in freedom. nothing is more fundamental than being able to direct how to were children are educated. the you know of the scholarship part is true? to be heard that?

>> i have heard something or i just remembered after the senator died something about congress passing something in science and technology in his name. i cannot remember what it was if it was a scholarship thing. that is vague in my mind. >> you cannot talk about barry goldwater in the 1964 campaign without bringing up the ad you mentioned before. here once on september 7, 1964, labor day monday. it aired on nbc, and cbs and abc used it as subsequent stories. it is known as the daisy ad. >> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 -- >> 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 [explosion] >> these are the stakes to make a world in which all of god's

children can live are to go into the garden. we must either love each other, or we must die. >> vote for president johnson on november 3. the stakes are too high for you to stay home. >> 50 years later, they're still talking about this ad. why? >> it was devastating. he never mentioned barry goldwater's name. he did not need to. keep in mind the whole campaign up to that point focused on the word "extremist." that is over and over it in. this was just another little piece of barry goldwater is an extremist. he will get us into nuclear wars.

i want to say something about that ad. that ad is written and designed by -- >> tony swartz. >> bill moyers. >> that is not true. that is absurd. >> let me finish. barry goldwater in my show is on camera. he said, bill moyers was behind that. he said, i tried years later after words to talk to bill moyers about it. he thought it was a pretty rotten deal. i tried to talk to bill moyers and he never returned my phone call. susan, his second wife, told me after, bill moyers was in town for something that related to politics. she had occasion to talk to him. bill moyers said it to susan, yes, it was a shame. i tried to get a hold of barry

goldwater to talk to him about a lot of times. we could just never beat up. susan was implying that was balogna. >> i can state categorically having a record every memo with how the advertisements were created in 1964 that bill moyers had nothing to do with creating that had it. >> he was white house press secretary at the time. >> he wrote memos about the ad. he was involved in the media strategy. he did not create the ad. >> question here. >> the subtitle for your book is "the unmaking of a consensus." i am interested in what is making a consensus -- what is it that was done made and are we making a new one? >> i think in a sense the word consensus would have to appear

in quotation marks. there was a myth that after world war ii that since the eisenhower administration accepted the new deal as a template, eisenhower said that anyone who fiddled with social security would never live to see another political that. he expanding the welfare state in certain ways. this idea that -- i might even read just a classic statement about how the american consensus was on top of that the time. the dean of rutgers wrote in a magazine, in america there are no basic disagreements between intellectuals, bankers, trade unionists, artists, a businessman, beatniks, professional people, and politicians to name a few. there are no real critics, no new ideas, no fundamental differences of opinion. the idea that the western world, not just america, had converged on the idea of welfare state to

organize the world was seen as permanent. what is so fascinating to me and why i called him up before the storm is almost immediately in the 1960's gives like to that notion. americans are at each other's throats. we are debating in the most fundamental ways. it was the american consensus. in 1964 is when we began to see these come apart. barry goldwater is a central figure in that. >> if you could in just a minute, the issue of civil rights in the 1964 vote, barry goldwater voted against it and it became one of the issues of the campaign. >> a couple of fascinating points about that. we talked about the lyndon johnson television commercials. they had a few in the can boasting about the civil war -- civil-rights deal. they did not run those. the idea of a backlash and civil rights was already present.

in california, in the book i publish a headline in the new york times, what backlash did not develop? maybe people would vote for barry goldwater because there were so terrified of blacks having civil rights. in california on the same day that lyndon johnson won by 1 million votes, there was also a vote for a referendum. that referendum was on open housing. by 1 million votes, californians voted to reject the idea of open housing trade to reject a law that says you cannot discriminate on the basis of race to whom you rent your home. the idea of a backlash against civil rights was latent at the

time and became the most explosive issue in american politics in the decades to come. >> if you look at what happened in 1952 when dwight eisenhower won, but you look at the south and the impact the civil rights vote have for democrats in 1964, what is the difference? >> that was the party of the carpetbaggers. it was the party if you voted for republicans and they had a total, it would monopolize the black vote. there were all these panics about -- we have all seen "gone with the wind." the shift began in 1964. five states voted for goldwater. when lyndon johnson signed it the civil-rights bill, he said i and signing away the south for the democratic party for at least one generation. the south now is primarily a republican region and that is because conservatives led by barry goldwater decided to retreat from the idea of the

federal government advancing civil rights for african americans. >> two years after -- and two years after he became governor of california, we had a portion of the speech he delivered. it was titled a time for choosing. late in the campaign as ronald reagan talked about the virtues of barry goldwater. >> i think it is time that we ask ourselves now we still the freedoms that were intended for us by the founding fathers. not too long ago two trends of -- friends of mine were talking to a human graffiti. a businessman who had escaped from castro. one of my friends turn to the other and said we do not know how lucky we are. the cuban stopped and said, how lucky you are? i had some place to escape to. he told us the entire story. if we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape. this is the last stand on earth.

his idea that government is beholden to the people that it has no other source of power behind the sovereign people is still the newest and most unique idea and the world's longest relationship to man. you and i have a rendezvous with destiny. we will preserve this last stop for man on earth or we will force them to take a step of 1000 years of darkness. we will remember that barry goldwater has faith in us. he has faith that you and i have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny. thank you very much. [applause] >> from october to date -- october 22, 1964, what is the history behind that speech? >> why did he deliver it? >> i don't know who drafted the speech.

he probably does. that is okay. barry goldwater himself was a great speaker. i mean dramatic. he was wonderful. he did not like prepared written speeches. somebody wrote to that speech for barry goldwater and submit ted it to him. my source on this is bob goldwater and some other historians. he read it and said this is a great speech, but i am not good at giving written speeches. ronald reagan can do this speech at lot better. they sent it over to him to deliver it on tv or wherever it was. ronald reagan did it. that was the beginning of a reagan ending up as president was that speech which was written for barry goldwater. >> it also led another -- a number of california executives to coach according to governor in 1966.

>> he had given similar speeches the early '60s. the people who had been in charge of basically handling the money for. goldwater's television account were so fed up with the terrible commercials, that basically said if you let us spend it the whole way, will spend it the way we want to. we are going to basically sequester this money. they played hard ball. that is how they got ronald reagan on the air. after he gave that speech, telegrams poured into the campaign. money poured into the campaign. people started talking about ronald reagan as a gubernatorial possibility. david said it was the best political debut he had ever heard of since the speech by william jennings bryant. >> the relationship, was it a close relationship or was it

more of an acquaintance? >> ronald reagan, his father was a wealthy physician that knew the goldwaters. there is a whole fascinating thing ever to my book that these people who ran his campaign did not want ronald reagan to give it this speech. it is a little different. he had set thinks about social security that barry goldwater had gotten in trouble for earlier in the year. basically what ronald reagan said to barry goldwater, why don't you listen to it. if you object to it. we do not have to run it. barry goldwater heard it and said this is great, i don't see what the fuss is about. the rest is history. >> good evening. >> good evening, sir. he pretty much answered my

question. i was wondering what mr. barry goldwater thought about the way he gave the speech that night. also, mr. barry goldwater and ronald reagan and william buckley, did they ever have difference of opinion as far as conservatism or were they in accord? with that, i thank you for taking my question. >> thank you. >> william f. buckley was actually shut out of the goldwater campaign late in 1963. it was a power play by a fellow by the name of -- it was power politics. william f. buckley on several different occasions that he did not think that barry goldwater would make a good president. he was not ready to be president and not smart enough to be president. now, ronald reagan to talk

relationship with william buckley is complicated. the panama canal, they had a famous debate in which william f. buckley argued that it was a good thing. ronald reagan had basically run his 1976 campaign on the idea that it was a bad thing. these are the personality clashes that any of these guys are going to have. >> can i recommend that a great book for this questionnaire -- william f. buckley's last book that he published is called "flying high." it is one of the best books ever written about goldwater. i recommend it. >> i have two questions for the panel to address. i wonder if by engaging over directly about the issue over

vietnam, barry goldwater could have forced lyndon johnson to come up with an exit strategy and hasten the war's conclusion. willt's get that and we follow up on your second on. e. >> i am not sure that -- there were forces trying to persuade lyndon johnson to do a lot of things about vietnam's. none of them prevailed. i am not sure he could have had much influence on lyndon johnson. i do not know. i did not say expert on that. we have some vietnam veterans in the crowd. maybe they know. >> my second point is we have heard a lot tonight about his consistency. in 1996, he endorsed bill clinton for president. i would love it if the panel could be behind the motivations of that endorsement. >> he was a guy that could bear grudges.

bob dole had been around a lot in republican politics. i would not be surprised if bob dole had angered him somewhere along the way. i do not know the back story behind it. i would love to know. >> he also endorsed a woman named karen english for a congressional seat in arizona who was a democrat. she won and served one term. >> along those lines, when asked about his consistency, one of my favorite stories is about that. he endorsed someone who was a fiscal conservative but was a democrat over a republican who he thought was a big spender. the republican party chairman in arizona called him up and said, you are speaking out too much. you need to get in line. if you don't stop endorsing this democrat, we are or to take your name off of the republican

party headquarters. barry goldwater said to him, if the republicans don't remember the principles that we stand for, i will make you take my name off of the republican party headquarters. >> over the years, especially since he was in retirement, a number of public figures both republicans and democrats would come out here to meet with barry goldwater. why? >> they admired him. he is one of the time. -- one of a kind. a person of integrity. they may not have agreed with them, but he was one of the time. you have to keep in mind when barry goldwater died, bill clinton had the flags of the united states lowered to half staff on the day of his funeral. that had never happened before and will probably never happen again. >> one quick point about hillary clinton being a goldwater girl in 1964. >> he had a very fascinating

rehabilitation in the 1970's. there was an article in the new york times magazine in april of 1974. in 1964 he was bela lugosi. the liberals love barry goldwater now. what it was about is how it reviewed a lot of the unfairness that we have been talking about. the reconsideration centered it around the fact he was being so forthright in excoriating richard nixon for his lies. >> welcome to the program. >> thank you so much. i was raised in phoenix and my family worshipped goldwater. we were active in his campaign. my brother became a libertarian and said it would never need to be a libertarian party if barry goldwater had just become president. i was then later a 1992 delegate to the republican convention. it was going to be a big fight that year, a platform fight

over putting abortion in the platform. one week before the convention, barry goldwater made a statement to the press about there was no "blankety blank" way that should be in the platform. but i got to the convention, there were all of these tables. here was a big blue button that said "barry's right." i bought that and were it the -- wore it the entire week. to this day it is my most prized possession. barry is still right. >> thank you for the call. >> you know, i think that is a difficult issue. i think a lot of people like to use that to call -- i am not saying your caller did this. to position barry goldwater as a libertarian. i think they know that 2% of the public consider themselves libertarians and try to

marginalize him that way. the truth is that a lot of conservatives believe that the federal government should not have any role in the question of whether or not abortion is a crime. william f. buckley is a pretty strong conservative. i do not think anybody would quibble with that. he also believed that was not the role of the federal government. marketing comes into play here. the way people took what barry goldwater said is not the way people took what will lead f. buckley said. it were saying the same thing. >> you cannot talk about barry goldwater -- we should point out he left the senate in 1964 because his term expired. he came back and had a very important role as he met with richard nixon two days before his resignation. what is the story? >> he was the guy who led a delegation of republicans. it is very simple.

impeachment of a political process, he said that you do not have the votes in the senate to win in a trial. therefore, you do not want to be the first president to be thrown out on your ear by the senate. you ought to resign. richard nixon took his advice. richard nixon resigned on august 9, 1974. >> the relationship between the two? >> testy. barry goldwater consistently throughout watergate would prod richard nixon to tell the truth. he said this is beginning to smell. there was a very famous showdown between barry goldwater and richard nixon at the 1960

republican convention. one of the most important set pieces and conservative history. nelson rockefeller basically threatened a floor fight unless he could dictate the terms of the republican platform. he forced richard nixon to fly to new york to negotiate the terms of the platform. it was announced in chicago where the convention was. barry goldwater was so mad he give this angry speech calling it munich of the republican party. that was when people started demonstrating for barry goldwater at that convention to usurp the nomination from richard nixon. ever since that point i don't think he ever really trusted richard nixon. >> tipping ahead to watergate is what brought on the resignation. barry goldwater told me and bob goldwater reiterates this.

the reason that barry goldwater was so angry at richard nixon leading up to the resignation is because, "richard was a g-d liar." there is a thing in the documentary, from childhood he said that if we did something wrong and we told the truth, we did not get punished. if we lied, we got punished. there is a very strong thing about lying. he was so angry at richard nixon for lying through watergate. >> in 1968 i was covering the republican convention in miami. i was able to meet barry goldwater who was there. he was extremely nice.

he struck me as totally different from his national image. i also discovered ronald reagan in the back of the news section of an auditorium being interviewed in a booth by nbc. i was the on the what to see him there. ronald reagan was making noises about running for president at that convention. i stood outside while he was finishing the interview. i think it was with david brinkley. he came out and by that time a whole lot of other reporters had gathered out there. mr. ronald reagan came out. i asked him a couple of questions. other reporters circled him. there were 20 or 30 of them. i was throwing questions over the top of that. he was very nicely yelling his answers back to my microphone. we went around a corner. the whole gang of people swept into this table at the end of

it knocking over a little man with his typewriter on the floor. i let them go. i stop and help to this little man. i looked into his face and it was theodore s. white. that stopped me right there. he was just so -- he apologized to me for that. i got to meet three really nice people there. barry goldwater, ronald reagan, and theodore s. white. >> thank you for the phone call from new orleans. conventions were quite different in 1964 and 1968. >> i do think in the making of the president, teddy white was pretty patronizing to barry goldwater. the 1964 convention was angry. i was told that it was so

impassioned and have violently angry by the media -- the eastern establishment press, david brinkley told his son who was a teenager at the time that you are under no circumstances to wear your nbc insignia around san francisco. that is why people were afraid of this idea of the goldwater movement as this crazy fascist thing. it was a dangerous for any time. >> in his final two years in the u.s. senate before retiring, he put forth ronald reagan's nomination to serve a second term and to beat the republican nominee in 1984. >> one month ago i sat in my den and watched the democratic national convention.

speaker after speaker promised the known to every narrow sense his group in the country. -- promised the moon to every narrow self-interest group in the country. they ignored the hopes and aspirations of the largest special interest group all -- and free men and free women. [applause] so tonight, i want to speak about freedom. let me remind you that extremism as a defense of liberty is no vice. [applause] >> essential barry goldwater?

>> absolutely. people loved barry goldwater. what he was expressing is akin to "give me liberty or give me death." and in america, we believe this. i think sometimes the loss of the 1964 campaign is mistakenly interpreted as an outright rejection of those ideas. it was not anything of the sort. you can hear it from the cheering. you can hear it from the reagan revolution. you know, that is what the liberal press at that time wanted people to believe. when he lost the campaign, the new york times' washington bureau chief had said that barry goldwater had not only lost but have lost the entire

conservative cause. there were always talking about the death of conservatism. that is wishful thinking. it remains wishful thinking on the part of the press. that is classic barry goldwater. it reflects what many a americans believe which is that you cannot be too passionate, to committee, or two extreme, if you want to use that word, in defense of our constitutional freedoms. >> jay is joining us from the york city. go ahead please. >> i just recently became into politics with the election of barack obama. i tried to look and see what the backlash was so i looked at barry goldwater and read the book "conscience of a conservative." you look at certain organizations and they praise these conservatives, i look at the record and try to think why do they not vote for conservatives?

why is it so monolithic? what is the situation? you look at the state's right speech. can conservatives at least understand that when you keep treating people like ronald reagan and barry goldwater, all we have to do is pick up the book and the record is right there. until you can be honest and say you are wrong on this. you cannot say freedom and equality when a whole segment of society feels like they are alienated. i would like to take that comment on the air. thank you for taking my call. >> thank you, jay. >> i certainly understand what the caller was saying in his views. i think more what he is referring to whether he realizes it or not is the image of barry goldwater that was put out there has been a crazy guy or a racist or whatever.

he really was not. you can say whatevery you want about barry goldwater, he was never a hateful person. he was never a vengeful person in his handling of politics. i wish some of these 12 people running around for president presently would adopt the niceness of barry goldwater. >> it is important to note also by the end of the 1964 campaign, barry goldwater did make a very important and subtle shift on his position on civil rights. he would always say that he was an integrationist. that was his goal for society. by the end of the campaign as he was trying to win the southern states, he did say, our goal is neither to have an integrated or a segregated society. it is to have a free society.

he did seem to move away from the idea of integration as a positive good. >> the reform debate in 1960 and in no debates in 1964. why? >> in order to have a debate, you had to suspend a rule of the federal communications commission so that every candidate -- of 30 candidates including the beekeepers party -- would not have to be on the states. -- stage. lyndon johnson wired net income or so it was impossible. he did not want to face barry goldwater. it says something like maybe he thought barry goldwater would have been a worthy adversary. >> this question is for darcy. do you see the tea party movement as a resurgence of barry goldwater movement? >> i definitely think there are -- the tea party -- the best way to answer that is it is not

monolithic. there are all kinds of people who constitute the tea party and a lot of ideas in the tea party. if you look at the tea party as a group of people who have fought these gigantic bailouts and washington, they fought the raising of the debt ceiling, they fought the federal takeover of health care. all of these things he would have been with them on. coming out and some of the major pieces and what the tea party folks are working on. >> franklin is on the phone. we welcome you. >> i would like to make a comment. if we would have elected barry goldwater as president in 1964, we would have won the war in vietnam.

he did not believe in public opinion to guide the war. i would also like to say that i think barry goldwater told mr. nixon that he could not hold the south for him or make sure the south would stay for him. they asked him to resign instead of be impeached. thank you. >> franklin, thank you. >> this stuff about how barry goldwater could have miraculously when the vietnam war. the united states paid over the entirety of a land mass of north and south vietnam with a quarter inch of steel. i think it is a fantasy. a pleasant one, but it is a glib position. >> we just have one minute or two left. did barry goldwater view's change as he got older?

>> his basic core philosophy and the way he looked at life and politics. i have had battles and op-ed pages where people are like, he got senile and it turned liberal at the end. he did not. he was always a small l libertarian. freedom of choice whether it was abortion, gay rights, or any number of things. he was totally consistent his entire life. >> i agree with that. any question about any time period in his life when you look at what his position was and ask a question of whether it was constitutional or not, that will give you the answer to what his position was. people look around to find politicians who were as honest as him and stand for principles. there are few and far between. that is why he gave us his blessing. he knew he could not count on

politicians to stand on principle all the time. with regular men and women supporting an organization who believed in those ideas, he would always have a voice for freedom. >> rick perlstein, i will give you the final word. what was the legacy of the 1964 campaign and what impact did he have? >> i think the legacy was organizational. it was the formation of organization that became a permanent conservative movement that lost the battle in 1964 but lived to fight a dozen of battles more. i think his legacy is to have inspired these people to become something -- become part of something greater than themselves. to inspire people who felt frustrated with the course of the country to take civic action. >> the book is called "before the storm," by rick perlstein. thank you to darcy olsen for hosting us here at the

goldwater institute. and bill mccune who is a former arizona state legislature and a producer of a documentary called "barry goldwater: an american life." we want to leave you with some of the words of barry goldwater with an interview we did with him while he was winding down his political career from the c-span archives in 1985. >> another thing i would tell politicians coming into washington -- your reelection is not going to make or break the united states. do the best job you can do. that is what you are here for. to defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. be honest. that is all i would tell them.

>> how about the republican party leaders today? >> i think we have good leadership here today. lord knows we spent long enough time out of office that we should have learned some things. politics go in a circle. you will find the liberal element running things for a while. now, we find the conservatives on the way up. the conservatives will run things until he runs out of ideas. the other party or even the republican party that becomes the liberal party will take over. our politics in amercan go around in circles. i think that is great. ♪go with goldwater. go with goldwater. you know where goldwater stands. go with goldwater. go with goldwater.

you know where goldwater stands.♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> but changed political history nevertheless. our look of the contenders continues next friday where we talk with historians and take your calls about and hubert humphrey. the series airs every friday night at 8:00 eastern through december 9. you can see tonight's program again at 10:30 on sunday. there is more information online. you will find a schedule, biographies of the candidates, appraisals and speeches. >> president obama at veterans day advance at arlington

national cemetery. followed by an observance at the memorial. this is about an hour.

>> address. >> forward, march. present. >> present. ["star-spangled banner" plays]

♪ >> order. >> order! >> present.

>> present! [camera shutters click]

["taps" plays] ♪

>> order! >> order! [camera shutters click]

[band plays] ["battle hymn of the republic"] e eyes have seen the coming of the lord where the grapes of wrath are stored. his -- ♪ >> his truth

is marching on glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah his truth is marching on ♪ ♪they have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps

i can read righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps his day is marching on ♪ glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah his truth is marching on ♪ ♪

♪ christ was born across the sea with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me as he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free

while god is marching on ♪ ♪ glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah his truth is marching on glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah his truth is marching on ♪

♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please stand. u.s. navy retired, commander in chief. secretary of veterans affairs. [applause]

[patriotic music plays] >> the president of the united states. ["hail to the chief" plays] [applause] >> please be seated. ladies and gentlemen, as we begin today's ceremony, we will present a special tribute to americans veterans. is the 1700's, generations of our military men and women have established a legacy, it

resolved, and determination that exist in our country today. ♪ following the attack on pearl harbor, america's greatest generation attack a step forward around the world. peace was short-lived as the world became polarized. there was communism. ♪ in korea, our veterans served in the fighting force in places like pork chop hill. after three years of intense

combat, armistice was signed that is still in effect today. ♪ in vietnam, our next generation of veterans in engage the enemy wherever they found them in places such as the tet offensive. the military draft ended following a vietnam. this forced the resolve of the united states in granada and panama rescuing thousands. the fall of the berlin wall marked our

victory in the cold war. history repeated itself in the middle east and europe. forces move swiftly in desert storm. the united states intervene in bosnia and kosovo to protect the innocent. ♪ following the attacks of 9/11, americans took to the fight in southwest asia where continues to limit threats today. americans veterans continue to be the bedrock of our nation, caring for families and neighbors and the united states of america.

["this is our country" plays] [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please rise as we present our national colors and those of our host veterans organization, the military order of the world wars. [patriotic music plays]

please remain standing for the prayer for all veterans delivered by the director of veterans affairs chaplain service. >> let us pray. holy god, we seek blessing as a return to this sacred ground to honor american veterans. we join with americans across our land in ceremonies around the world to thank our veterans for their love of country, their dedication to excellence, and their commitment to service. we give thanks for families who have stood by other military men and women while they were deployed, and today stand by

them as they invest that same love of country, dedication, and service in civilian life. we pause this morning to remember and pray for those who continue to grieve the loss of the service member, no matter the generation or time of service. in this hour, we pledge to care for veterans and their families as they adjust to living with the wounds of war. may they know their sacrifices were not in vain, and that a grateful nation takes time today to honor them for the great gift of freedom. blessed are service members who continue to serve in harm's way in afghanistan, iraq, and in locations around the world. hear our prayer for veterans. we pray with gratitude. amen. >> amen.

>> i like to invite the commander in chief of the military order of the world wars, russell vowinkel, to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag and the united states of america, one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> please be seated. it is my distinct privilege to introduce the leaders of the veterans service organizations that comprise the veterans day national committee. the committee was formed by presidential order in 1954 to hold an annual observation for americans veterans and to encourage veteran's day occurrences throughout the

nation. nation. please hold your applause until i have introduced all of these special guests. please stand if you're able when i call your name. russell vowinkel. military order of the world wars. arthur cooper. national president, the retired enlisted association. harold fritz. president, congressional medal of honor society. donald samuels. national commander. disabled american veterans. bill mulei. national president, pearl harbor survivors association. norbery ryan jr. cer's association of america. terese robell. national commander, region of american veterans. william mcswain.

korean war veterans association. albert gonzalez. national commander, american g.i. forum. albert fauk. a jewish war veterans of the usa. carole beaugard. prisoners of war. frederick iliad. vice-president, of vietnam veterans of america. richard denouier. veterans of the foreign wars of the united states. garry frye. samuel hune. blinded veterans association. jeffrey gibson. national commander, army and navy union. h. jane overstreet. noncommissioned officers association. david boyles. national vice commander, the

american legion. bill hutton. military order of the purple heart. james scarborough. fleet reserve association. james tuey. marine corps lead. edward t. brogan. military chaplains association. bill lawson. paralyzed veterans of america. donald l. marks. legion of valor of the usa. the social members of the committee are located in the boxes to my left. please hold your applause until the end. jeanette early. goldstar wives of america. janet broussard. blue star mothers of america. peter fords. s. samfort schlit. airforce association.

carl berritt. maybe veterans of america. jeffrey ledeaux. air force sgt association. mike lynch. ceo, help hospitalize veterans. gerald d. francisco. president of the humanitarian services, american red cross. david fletcher. national association of veterans affairs. glory s. montgomery. gerad yamada. japanese american veterans association. j. david bailey. veterans of the battle of the bulge. darlene baker. charles able.

woundedwalker williams. reserve officers association. tim moon. association of the united states navy. ladies and gentlemen please join me in recognizing our veterans national leadership with your applause. [applause] it is my pleasure to introduce our host. the military order of the world wars was formed as a suggestion of john j. pershing. is comprised of members who work or are commissioned officers of the army, navy, marine corps, public health service, and the national

oceanic and atmospheric administration. they represented by russell vowinkel. he served as a flight officer. ladies and gentlemen, russell vowinkel. [applause] >> mr. president, fellow veterans, and americans everywhere, thank you for celebrate the service of america's veterans. terry shinseki reminds us that november 11 is a day to celebrate the selfless service of our veterans. it is a day to rejoice that we haveamericans are willing to

except hardships to preserve and protect our nation. america is blessed to up veterans service organizations to continue this tradition after the military active military service ends. this is one of many veterans service organizations contributing to america. the 92 years since our founding, the order has sponsored youth leadership conference's a credit -- accredited by of the national association of secondary school principals throughout the united states. our order also serves america's youth by sponsoring awards, programs for junior and senior rotc programs, the boy scouts and girl scouts of america. we recognize those who excel in national security, homeland security, and law enforcement arena as. -- arenas. we serve america by sponsoring

caller sore morris in conjunction with flag day, the fourth of july, a memorial day, and veterans day. we're not unique. veterans to which they belong support america every day in every way. veteransteful for the abiding devotion to duty. theirhumbled by sacrifices. for that and so much more, we are in their debt. >> please welcome, the secretary of veterans affairs.

>> welcome to this hallowed place. our person -- purpose is to honor all of you. mr. president, medal of honor recipients, distinguished members of the congress, secretary of defense panetta, service secretaries, members of your defense team. other pearl harbor survivors who are standing with us, their last

veterans day formation as a service organization for the past seven years, they have been stalwart reminders of the importance of national readiness. thank you for your service and godspeed. [no audio] -- [applause] what a beautiful day for observance of the 11th-hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and the 11th year of this century but we gather to celebrate those that have safeguarded this nation both headpiece and at war and to renew our commitment as a nation.

in these uncertain times, the nation's veterans can take great comfort in knowing that we have a commander in chief who is staunchly devoted to keeping lincoln's commitment. president obama's support has been strong, consistent, unwavering. because of that, we have been transforming your va to better serve veterans throughout this 21st century. working with the congress, the president provided in 2010 the largest single year increase to the va budget in over 30 years and he has steadily grown that bhajan by 27% over the past two fiscal years.

a short near support it during these tough economic times. yet, this is essential if we're going to increase veteran access, eliminate the backlog of disability claims, and and a veteran homelessness. for the last two and a half years, we have added nearly 800,000 veterans to our health care rolls, built more than 50 new outpatient clinics, building five new hospitals, have invested heavily in both mental health care and the technologies to link veterans wherever they live with the va services that they need. we have also improved outreach to women veterans adding 144 women's programs coordinators at our medical centers and women's benefits coordinators at our 56

regional offices and rolled over 630,000 veterans and family members bobby -- family members in college under the new gi bill and began the process which will begin eliminating the backlog last year. partly housing over 32,000 veterans and assistance and another 50,000 to the call center. mall standing issues such as agent orange, combat posttraumatic stress disorder, making it easier for hundreds of thousands of veterans to receive the benefits they aren't. no president since franklin roosevelt has done more for the nation's veterans to answer the call of the general turned the

tide at midway, fought and defeated the 68 offensive, liberated kuwait, topple saddam hussein, drove the taliban and to hiding and brought osama bin laden to justice. [applause] we could not ask for a stronger advocate for veterans and for the men and women who served today in uniform who will be tomorrow's veterans. ladies and gentlemen, it is my great personal and professional honor to present our commander in chief, the president of the united states of america, barack obama.

[applause] >> thank you. please be seated. thank you, secretary sinn secchi, for your commitment to our veterans and your service to our country. -- thank you, secretary shin seki. we think every active-duty service member, better and, of our armed services. there are many responsible does that come with this job but

none more humbling then serving as your commander in chief. i am proud to be with so many of you here today. here, where our heroes come to rest, we come to show our gratitude. a few moments ago, a laid a wreath to pay tribute to all who have given their lives to our country. even though this is the day that we rightly honor america's veterans, we gather today and solid respect, mindful that we are guests here, mindful that we share this hallowed space with the families moment of quiet grief. mindful that many veterans not far from here are tracing their fingers over black granite for friends that never came home.

they expect us to do all we can to bring every missing american service member home to their families. to all of our nation's veterans, whether you fought -- wherever you fought, you are part of an unbroken chain of men and women who have served with honor and distinction. on behalf of a proud and grateful nation, we thank you. when i spoke here on this day two years ago, i said there would be a day before long in this generation of servicemen and women would began to step out of uniform and i made them a promise. i said that when you work for ends, when you see in our flag, when you touched our soil, you

will be home in an america that is forever here for you just as you have been there for us. -- has said that when your tour ends. [applause] for many, that day has come. for the past decades, more than 5 million americans have worn the uniform of the united states armed forces. of these, 3 million step forward after the attacks of september 11th knowing full well that they could be sent into harm's way. in that time, they have served in some of the most dangerous places. their service has been selfless, their conference have been extraordinary. in iraq, they have battled a brutal insurgency, trained new

security forces, and given the iraqi people the opportunity to forge a better future. in afghanistan, we have pushed back the taliban, devastated al qaeda, delivered the ultimate justice to osama bin laden. in concert with our allies, we brought an end to gaddafi's brutal dictatorship. because of their incredible efforts, we can stand here today and say with confidence that the tide of war is receding. in just a few weeks, the long war in iraq will finally come to an end. [applause] our transition in afghanistan, moving forward, my fellow americans, our troops are coming home.

[applause] for many military families, this holiday season will be a season of uncommon -- of homecoming. more than 1 million will transition back to civilian life joining the nearly 3 million that had done so over the past decade. this generation of service members has borne the burden of our security during a hard decade of sacrifices. our service men and women make up less than 1% of americans but also more than 1 million military spouses, 2 million children, and millions more parents, relatives, who have

shared the strains of the plymouth and sacrifice on behalf of the country. only 27 years old on average. these young men and women have shattered the false myths of their generation's apathy. they came and age in an era when so many institutions fails to live up to their responsibility but they chose to serve a cause greater than the self. they saw the country threatened and they signed up to confront that threat. they answered some calls. they said, let's go. they have earned their place among the greatest of generations. [applause] that is something for america to be proud of. that is the spirit that america

needs now. stronger, and your spirit of service and of sacrifice. the spirit that says, what can i do to help? what can i do deserve? the spirit that says that when my country is challenged, i will do my part to meet that challenge. on this veterans day, let's commit ourselves, keep making sure that our veterans receive the care and benefits that they have earned and the opportunities that they have defend it and deserve. let us welcome them home as what they are, integral and essential part of our american family. [applause] our men and women signed up to

become a soldier, and airmen, marines, coast guard, they don't stop being a citizen. when they take out a uniform, their service to this nation does not stop either. like so many of their predecessors, today's veterans come home looking to serve america. the time when american needs all hands on deck, they have the skills and the strength to help to lead the way. our government needs their patriotism and a sense of duty. that is why i have ordered the hiring of more veterans by the federal government. [applause] our economy needs their tremendous talents and specialized skills, so i challenged our business leaders to hire 100,000 veterans and their spouses over the next few years and yesterday these

leaders announced that they will meet that challenge. [applause] . our community has always drawn strength from our veterans leadership. as a doctor, a police officer, engineer, as a mom or a dad. in the process, unchanged. other veterans have learned skills in combat to help after a natural disaster. there are some in the field that tug to serve but don't know quite where to turn.

on this veterans day, ask every american for proof. if you are a business owner, hire them. if you are a community leader, call on them to join your efforts tend to organize your community to make the same difference and a life of a veteran because that veteran can make a difference in the life of your community. if you are looking for new ways to serve, check out our web site. if you are looking for new ways to support our veterans and our troops, joining mashel and jill michelle and jill biden. the effort you make might have

the biggest impact. recently, i received a letter from a vietnam veteran. she was not writing to tell me about her own experience, she is what to tell me about her son, jeremy. jeremy is not deployed, and jeremy is not a veteran or even in the military at all and, but as badly as he wants to follow the footsteps of his family and the list. jeremy has down syndrome. jeremy chooses to server can best, with his local vietnam veterans of america chapter in beaver, pa.. he calls them the soldiers. one day last spring, he spent the day with several of these veterans cleanout a local highway -- cleaning up a local

highway. he worked tirelessly, wrote his mother. he never asked to take a break, he did not stop to talk about his beloved steelers, he did not even ask for anything to eat or drink. he only asked for one thing several times. mom, will president obama be proud of me for help in the soldiers? the german, i wanted to know yes, i am proud of you. i cannot be more proud of you and your country is proud of you. thank you for helping our veterans by helping them to continue their service to america. there may's example, one young man's example is one that we must all die now follow -- one

young man's example is one that we must all now follow. this is a -- now, the 9/11 generation will play a role in rebuilding america's prosperity and 21st century. we know it will be hard. we will have to overcome security -- address to our security. if there is anything our veterans teachers, it is that there is no threat we cannot meet, there is no challenge we cannot overcome, america's best days are still ahead and the reason for that is because we are a people that defy those voices that insist otherwise.

we are a country that does was necessary for future generations to succeed. you veterans fight so our children will not have to. we've built and we invent and we will learn. america leads so that the next generation here and around the world will know a more hopeful life on this earth. today, i think you all for making that possible. god bless you, god bless our veterans and our troops, and god bless the united states of america. [applause]

>> please rise and joined the united states army band and singing "god bless america." got a bless america, land that i love, from the mountains, to the paris, to the mountains white with snow god bless america, my home sweet home god bless america, my home sweet home

[applause] >> please remain standing as we retire the colors. retire the colors. ♪ ♪ b♪ ♪ ca ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> this concludes the veterans day observance. please be seated for the departure of the president of the united states. we are proud to honor all who served. [applause]

[applause] ♪ calle >> next, to a ceremony on the vietnam war memorial.

this ceremony as posted by the vietnam veterans memorial fund and the national park service. this is about an hour. >> ♪ oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light once so proudly we hail the by

the dawn's early gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say, does that star spangled banner yet wave the land of the free

and the home of the brave >> remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. thank you. the pledge of allegiance will be read by sargent and troop pescadores -- sgt and troop past the door andrew -- andrew piscadore. we want to thank him for being here and being among other marines helping to keep the flag pole emblem polished that the vietnam veterans memorial. at this time, we will be led in the pledge of allegiance by real

united states marine. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> hoo-ah! please retire the colors. ok, caller is officially retired. let's give the color guard i hand. they did good work. very impressed. i want to point out that you could have a seat, we have two other color guards here who have actually come all the way from fort bragg, north carolina.

you might guess the unit that there would, known as the 82nd airborne division. jumping out of americans -- airplanes, paratroopers. and the first air cavalry division. you see them back there in their colorful uniforms. there they are. [applause] at this point in time, james gray, the wounded warriors team, air operations group, will lead us in prayer. >> please join me according to your faith as i pray according to mind this afternoon. lord god, as we assemble here at the vietnam veterans memorial, to remember it the over 58,000 names that adorn this wall, lord, we joined those across our

nation and world taking time on this day to remember our veterans past and present, today and even now, offering their last measure of life for the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of these united states of america. lord, our hearts swell with pride in these warriors of peace, and yet they also filled with sorrow for the families whose warriors lives were snatched from our presence by war. our hearts grieve for the warriors whose lives were radically changed by the physical, emotional, and spiritual injuries they received. we thank you for the healing you offered them as the great decision and pray for those who even now on the healing. lord, may we as a nation never offer the offenses of the passages of veterans of vietnam

suffered. we should always give proper respect and honor to our soldiers, marines, chairman, and coastguardsman who stepped into harm's way for our freedoms. lord, i think you'd that our forefathers received your blessings in these, the united states of america, where we joined three them to pray according to our faith. i ask these blessings in accordance with my faith, a christian, and we ask them in accordance to our individual fates. amen and amen. >> i want to thank the minister for a really great opening prayer. this is something for all of us to think about, the idea of feeling and how so many who served in wars need healing. and the trauma does not just go away. for 30 years, the vietnam

veterans memorial fund has been working hand-in-hand with a national park service to ensure this memorial remains an excellent conditions and offers visitors a healing, educational experience. you might notice the quality of the grass that we have here. we have put tens of thousands of dollars into making this the best grass on the mall. if you ever wonder where your contributions go to, this is part of it. it is really important that we have nice grass here, because you really need to set the same. we want to thank the national park service for helping us. we recently completed of restoration -- a restoration -- a restoration of the system to keep the grass water and fertilizer and recently put down new sod. this is a great place. we're in the middle of building

the education center at the vietnam veterans memorial. we plan to actually break ground next year. we will have a big parade to celebrate this groundbreaking, and at the head of that parade will march of veterans from iraq, and afghanistan. that's right. [applause] this will be a place where everyone learns about the wars of america, and we now have 23,000 photographs, pretty extraordinary, and if you can help us with that, go to buildthecenter.org, we would greatly appreciate that.

americans look forward to watching this become a reality with the national park service, it in is an honor to work with them to take care of the memorial. this is a very important part of america's small. we set the standard an example of how to take care of america's mall. like to introduce to you the new superintendent of the national park service to is in charge of the mall. i want to introduce mr. robert vogel. ok. >> good afternoon. on behalf of the national park service, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the vietnam veterans memorial, which is dedicated to the valiant soldiers, sailors, chairman, and marines who fought in that war. this memorial to change a

permanent inscription of 58,272 names of the servicemen and women who died in vietnam, and those that remain missing in action during the vietnam war. so this veterans day ceremony, we are honored have as our keynote speaker joseph galloway. mr. galloway is a distinguished author and someone who has a war correspondent witnessed firsthand the bravery of our soldiers in vietnam. also like to recognize libby o'connell, an historian for the history channel. and general barry mccaffrey, the most highly decorated four-star general in the united states army at the time of his retirement. i would also welcome marsha ginsberg stevens -- marsh said

consular stevens, -- marcia guenzler-stevens. i'll would also like to thank jan scruggs. we are very excited to work with jan and the vietnam veterans memorial fund in this exciting new endeavour with the education center. jan thank you for your partnership and we sharing your mission to ensure that the legacy and sacrifices of vietnam veterans are not forgotten. to the members of the arm festers -- on forces and the veterans here today, i am deeply, deeply honored and humbled to spend a special day, veterans day, with you. there really is no tribute, no

commemoration, no honor that can truly match the magnitude of your service and your sacrifice. those of you that served in the and i'm coming your families, we know how important is memorial is to you. every day we try some small way to repay your sacrifice and the sacrifice of those who did not make it home by preserving and caring for this wonderful and very moving more. thank you very much -- and very moving memorial. thank you very much. >> we really appreciate the kind words. i had an interesting couple days. i have been traveling with a

fellow from a company called try west, has offered me $1 million for the education center for the memorial. but i need to raise another $1 million in order to match it. so we have up to $750,000, and i just want to announce that the couple of guys, rolling thunder, will give us $100,000. anybody else? [applause] and at the risk of being embarrassed, we had asked general barry mccaffrey, and he said he would give us $10,000. that is pretty good. [applause] a few thousand people like this and we can begin to construct tomorrow. a lot of you have been watching vietnam in hd on tv. of very emotionally draining,

magnetic and scimitar per day -- magnetic and -- magnificent cinematography, and i have been watching it. we are here today in to thank the history channel. they have been helping us get this photographs and for the memorial and i have been traveling all over the country with these guys. it seems like it is mostly ladies, but libby o'connell is the senior chief historian for the history channel, and senior vice president for corporate operations. let's give a big hand for the history channel, for anyone who has ever watched it. >> if is a tremendous honor to be here today on behalf of history. i want to thank the park service, the superintendent to adjust poker you do such good work at all the memorials here on the mall.

it seems every week this fall we are in a different city surrounded by wonderful vietnam veterans. i look across the stage and see your face. i do not know what we will do next week when we are no longer on stage together. thanks also to everyone here at the vietnam veterans memorial fund. you are such terrific partners and so dedicated. since we launched history almost 17 years ago, our network has had a concrete commitment to veterans. we permit the powerful documentary, economic hd, and i am glad that my friend intelligent colleague is here. -- vietnam in hd, and i am glad my friend and intelligent colleague is here. fabulousing such storytelling from are participating in a down

veterans. some of you are here, those of you, raise your hands. thank you for what you have done. the audience response has been tremendous. also like to give a shout out to veterans from pennsylvania. it is wonderful to have you here. along with our program on television, history channel supports our veterans through outreach efforts such as take a back to school day, in almost 10,000 schools. -- take a vet to school day, in almost a thousand schools. to work, andet thank you whoever cued up the airplane.

all different sizes. and also a new program that is called forward, encouraging employment opportunities. we are helping what they call for a cut us to put a face to each and every name on this memorial. -- with the call for photographs to put a face to each and every name on this morning. that allowed such a great impact to this memorial in the service that you all done. all of you have gathered here, please accept the honor and responsibility of going home to your community and spreading the word about this effort and join us in supporting the future of the education center so that millions of families and students who visit here every year, this education center will make it possible for everyone to learn about the hard truths and the more -- and the enormous

courage that characterized this tremendously complex conflict we call the vietnam war. this place is known as the wall that heals. the healing process began a long time ago but it continues today. and rarely are we granted to a chance to turn back a page in history and make things right. it is an honor and privilege for me to be here today among you, americans, vietnam veterans, and your families, and extend a long overdue sense of appreciation to you all but from the bottom of my heart. thank you for your service. [applause] >> want to thank all the people who have been helping us. there is one person that is not here today. i really want to thank him for what he has done.

you of all non a of a fellow named senator john mccain -- you have all known of a senator named senator john mccain. do you know what he did for us today? everyone who donated to his presidential campaign got an electronic mail asking for donations for the vietnam veterans memorial education sector. we're getting one donation every minute from across the country. three cheers for john mccain. what a great guy. [applause] i think one of the reasons we have such overwhelming support for the education center at walt is the brilliance, really, of the design which has photos, the items left at the memorial, but a very intense experience with celebrates service, service to your community. everyone who goes to the education center at walt will

get an opportunity to get a dog tag. -- at the wall will get an opportunity to get a dog tag, but you have to go back to your community and do something positive for someone, help the widow across the street. this is the sort of hundreds of thousands, millions of random acts of kindness that will be done as a result of the education center. that is why some many people are helping us. america really needs something to bring the country together. we are providing that. [applause] what a great honor for me to introduce -- actually one of a great nonmilitary -- living military leaders of our time. barry mccaffrey been served with great distinction in vietnam, won the distinguished service cross, silver star, over and over again, was a very

aggressive combat leader. he believes in leadership. he teaches leadership. he is on the faculty at west point. you see him on msnbc all the time. but he has been the chairman of the advisory board for the education center at the vietnam veterans memorial and has helped lead some of the decisions that have gotten us to where we are today and to where we are going to be next year. so we really want to thank him for his help, for his personal generosity, and this is not the first time he has reached into his own pocket to give us money. god bless general barry mccaffrey, and then you get to hear him speak. [applause] again come >> but thanks very much more importantly thanks to the leadership. dan has been the founder and the president and the energy behind this magnificent memorial to our 58,000 bodies that we lost in vietnam. the next debt -- buddies the

lost in vietnam. the next step will be the education center in 2014. we made a huge star with colin powell helping us being the honorary chairman. we need your help. let me just reinforce, the staff, of round of applause for their leadership and their commitment. it is my privilege to introduce joe galloway. he has been a friend for a long time. he is someone i admire enormously. the first time i met him, general norman schwarzkopf, an introvert, a shy man -- [laughter] -- sent him down to our division. we were about to ship out to iraq, and general schwarzkopf told a judge to come on down. we knew all about him anyway,

and so i sat him down and walk through the entire attack plan, right before we started the attack. every map was labeled secret, no distribution. and joy at the end of it said that it was generous to give him that briefing. so joe, i have tremendous confidence in you and i'm holding you prisoner until we start the attack. [laughter] joe is seen more combat than anyone i've ever met. for 22 years he covered one doesn't conflicts, burdick conflicts, dangerous ones. as first exposure in -- at the age 22, a upi reporter in vietnam, 16 months on that tour, and he joined the seventh calorie -- seventh calorie --

alvery and was, one of the only reporters awarded a medal. this is an unusual man. it went back to vietnam three more times on tours. he has been widely recognized throughout the journalistic profession. probably more importantly in the military profession, he is one of the most beloved and respected figures. i was just at fort benning acute months ago where he was given the most prestigious award, he was the annual recipient of the doughboys award. tonight we will recognize him at the gala dinner, with the first legacy in service reward. so let me tell you about joe galloway. he is someone who loves our troops. he looks out for their welfare.

he is not afraid to speak up and confront power, whether secretaries of defense our generals or anyone else, threatens the well meaning of art -- well-being of our troops. when you are looking at joe galloway, you are looking at a friend of vietnam veterans. please welcome joe kelly. -- joe galloway. thanks, there >> it. when i turned up at his tactical operations center, in saudi arabia, on the eve of the gulf war, he showed me all this stuff. and where we were going. and i kept counting enemy division flags on that map. and thinking, there is one of us, and eight of them, and the hair stood up on the back of my neck.

,.d barry said don't worry, i trust you. i trust you because schwarzkopf said i was supposed to trust you. but more than that, i trust you because you're coming with me. [laughter] it is a distinct honor to be here and speak on veterans day. i spoke here 15 years ago on memorial day. memorial day is the day we pay our respects to our fallen brothers on this wall, 58,272 of them now. i know that we all think of them every day, but memorial day is their day. veterans day is your day.

veterans day is for those who survived, who came home, some with wounds visible, some with wounds invisible. today is your day and we think of you and we think of you with respect. and we think of this country's obligations to all its veterans in terms of taking care of their health, mental, physical, otherwise -- taking care to keep the promises we made when you raise your hand and took that oath to protect and defend the constitution of our beloved country. we do not have a very good record of keeping those promises.

there is a lot of lip service in this town. there is a lot of bureaucrats and a lot of gray buildings up and down the small -- this mall who sometimes get in the way more than they help. so we have got a lot of work to do. it is 36 years since the end of the vietnam war, 46 years since the first major battle of the war in which i and a number of people here participated. is over half a century, 55 years, since the first american serviceman was killed in vietnam. his stands on this wall. so is that his son.

given jr., and -- hardts givens -- ricar fitzgibbons, jr. and iii. i want to tell you about a friend of mine who would come here and turned up in my office after we were soldiers once and young was published. he introduced himself, bp collins. he was a captain that had been an artillery observer and how more -- in hall m brigadeoo. re's he came home-an arm and a leg.

-- he came home without an arm and leg. he never missed a chance when there was a veterans group needing someone to talk. what he always said was this. we survived when so many give up their precious lives so that we could live. we owe them an obligation to live each day to its fullest potential. working to make this world a better place for our having lived and they're having died.

no wining and no crime. simple as that. -- no whining and no crying. . if you are troubled, help somebody. if you are grieving, reach out to someone whose losses even greater. give of yourself and all that you give will come back to you multiplied one hundredfold. i worry about others from vietnam almost every day. but we have a couple of generations of new veterans who have followed us home. they really need help, all the help we can give. they come home from three or four or five or even six combat tours. they are no strangers to peace est. they suffer -- ptsd.

they come home to an economy that is sputtering and has few jobs for them. so i hope you will all in the hands of veterans in need, the utterance of all our wars. i want to say something about the education. my friend at a dedication in one of his fine books, and he said, the beginning of the end of war lies in remembrance. and i see hermann every summer, and the first time i met him, i said, i am going to rewrite that. i am going to rewrite that.

the beginning of the end of war lies in education. and herman smiled and he wrote out a check for the scholarship fund. so i think i got away with rewriting his dedication. we need smarter, better educated politicians. with a better grasp of history. [applause] i do not mind saying that in this town, where they cluster. [laughter] more of them should wear this nation's uniform first. [applause] so they better understand what it really means to serve this country.

and then they can serve themselves. but first the country. i want that, i demand that. they need -- i am sorry. they should not be allowed to vote for a war if they do not know what one is first hand. [applause] the most blows some bird i have ever saw is a chicken hot. -- l dieoathsome chicken hawk.

we need better partitions. -- loathsome bird i ever saw as a chicken hot. people with a better grasp of history know that war is no solution to anything. it is a tragedy all ways. it is something that each --ion's sons and daughters eats a nation's sons and daughters and a nation's treasury, and what does it give as but hundreds of thousands of people who are crippled and maimed in tortured and to

muscovy in -- and who must be cared for. who must all their lives being taken care of. and we do that's so poorly. we need education so that we can begin and end all wars. and i prayed that there will be a day when peace comes to this certification. i do not know. it will not be in my lifetime. i was born three weeks before pearl harbor. be 70 years old, and my life has been bound up with a war before even i could remember. i did not meet my father until the end of 1945, when i was almost five years old.

he and five of his brothers wore the uniform, four of my mother's brothers. i grew up in houses full of pride and women looking out the window for the telegraph boy. you never forget that. i am not going to belabor you. i would like to belabor the politicians and those who sit in the halls of congress and some of the bureaucrats who sit in these great buildings. but i'm going to ease off right there and say thank you for your service. thank you for wearing our country's uniform. thanks to your families or sacrificing, sometimes everything. sometimes everything. thank you, ladies.

thank you, god bless you, god bless our troops serving in 120 countries around this world. i am honored to be here. i am honored to speak to you. and thank you. [applause] >> we would like to thank joe for those inspiring words. spoken from the heart. we join him in the desire to see the swords broken down and melted into plowshares one day. at this time i am very pleased guenszler-dr. marsh

stevens. >> on days like today, i have this official memory. it is 1993 on my simile blue day, and there were 80 women marching down constitution avenue, joined by their brother veterans. we launched that day would be an addition to this sacred ground. those women and their brother veterans were celebrating the dedication of an idea. she was one of those who talks about -- to judge talks about serving. the vietnam veterans -- the vietnam women's veterans memorial has been attached stone for some many. it is my pleasure to join with

others and gathering each memorial and veterans day for storytelling at the vietnam mo women's memorial. we did that today. those stories of courage and camaraderie, those poignant memories and the laughter, we have unleased the power of stories to heal and to inspire. today we have an opportunity to hear one of those stories. the vietnam women's memorial foundation is on a tab as its guests a woman who completed her bachelor's and nursing in 1964. she had joined the u.s. army nurse corps. she served in the 85th evacuation hospital in vietnam and the 249th general hospital in japan.

with a variety of postings and her long and distinguished military career, each which took on greater and greater responsibility, sharon did amazing things to affect the health and well-being of others. she went on to serve as chief for education and staff development services and later as chief of clinical nursing services at walter reed army medical center. bi is a communitystron leader and a -- bistron is a community leader. i went and asked her zero colleagues how to describe sharron. they would use words and phrases like this. filled with grace. diplomatic.

kind. universally liked. that is how her colleagues describe her from walter reed. in some many ways, those same words and phrases could be attributed to the very young sharon, who served in the 85th be back. you need only ask her fellow nurses who are here celebrating their sister veterans today. will you please joining me and welcoming the colonel? [applause] thank you for that very generous >> introduction. honored guests, my fellow veterans, families and friends who gathered here to honor those whose names appear on this wall, i am humbled and honored to speak to you today on behalf of my women colleagues and as a

representative of the vietnam women's memorial foundation. many women served our country unofficially, starting with the revolutionary war, but during the past two centuries, their roles have increased and improved. i salute and command the women in uniform today. end the women in uniform today. it is hard to believe that i saw that distant shores of vietnam and thought, while, it looks like a tropical paradise. as i ran on shore with doctors, nurses, medics, and other hospital personnel to my dealing with 500 dead, we arrived with

great anticipation and expectation but with little knowledge of how to set up a field hospital. the real estate we were given was 8 miles out of town and an unsecured area. as tents were set up and supply lines opened, we began to realize that we were assembling a world war ii hospital. the lack of modern equipment and supplies was a shot. we were soon to find out what challenges -- heat, humidity, monsoon rains, old equipment, and inadequate supplies -- would bring. our anesthesia machines were vintage 1938. in our first three months, there was a chronic shortage of intravenous fluids, life-saving medicine, suction equipment, and

many other items that we used on a daily basis. how did we acquire what was needed? we quickly learned to beg, borrow, barter, occasionally steel, and when all else failed, we improvised. nurses and doctors became the unofficial supply officers as they raided navy ships dispensaries, and its supply listed air force evacuation cruz, and appealed to friends at stateside military hospitals for medical care packages. six weeks after we arrived, we had to move the hospital due to the security issues. the move was a welcome relief but it meant disassembling the hospital and setting it up a second time. we departed our first location and 72 hours later, it was hit

by rocket fire. we felt lucky. initially it was extremely frustrating trying to deal with the shortages of almost everything. that newspaper press about the shortages, considerable effort on the part of our hospital leadership, and finally saw improved medical supplies. however, we often felt on wanted, unappreciated, and most of all, were seen as troublemakers. the goal all hospital personnel was to provide the best possible care to all casualties, and we were able to accomplish that. in the early weeks, the hospital had several small surgery's dealt with in a reasonably efficient manner. then in early november, the first battalion, seventh

venturedca to aboutvarly realities of war came home to us. suddenly we were inundated with casualties. surgery run on all around the clock. for the first 24 hours, 64 surgery's were completed and they continued on for several more days. during the years that i served with the 85th and back hospital, we have netted more than 14,000 casualties. -- we admit more than 14,000 casualties. to quote charles dickens, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. i frequently touched on the worst of times. so what was the best of times? it was how we pull together as a team, the camaraderie, under the

worst of circumstances, and still provide a prop up rigid quality care to the many wounded who arrived at our door. -- and still provide quality care to the many wanted to arrive at our door. there is no greater bond. at the end of the year, we all came home. many returned to civilian life. some to continue their military careers. each of us was affected by the war in different ways. we have lived through that litter -- we have lived with that you're for ever since. one nurse was never able to work in medicine again. another committed suicide but i have no idea if vietnam was her demons. others cannot visit this fall because the memories are too

strong and the thoughts into painful. in s. often believed that since nurses did not carry weapons, we were less likely to be casualties of war. however suppression, anxiety, fatigue, and nightmares have long been associated with wartime duty. it took many years after vietnam to finally label this as post- traumatic stress disorder. however, florence nightingale, a crimean war nurse and founder of modern nursing, is believed to have certification from this malady -- suffered from this malady. our nation is beginning to come to grips with the fact that there are many latent wounds of war. these wounds affect women as well as men. besides stress disorders, there are the many illnesses associated with the use of agent orange in vietnam. and in our current conflict, the

dramatic brain injuries and a high incidence of suicide. they can stay with us for a lifetime or be felt years later. a look and by commending all women who work in the defense of our nation, not just in the military, but in war-related industries. in addition, women served and are serving in the american war across, the uso, and in intelligence. in fact, some women were considered world war ii's greatest spies. women continue to serve in many of these roles and in many wars is our armed forces have opened up more branches to women. the vietnam women's memorial pays tribute to all of these women who have served our country. ladies, we answered our nation's call. thank you. god bless you.

god bless all veterans. god bless america. >> thank you very much for your kind remarks. we really appreciate those kind words. i had an opportunity and just ran into one guy who went to get me when i was injured. he said, i beg you don't remember me. and i said, i do remember you. another wounded warriors here with me. it was like the team that day. by the way, i needed $1 million this morning. it's not something i'm really

good doing. over $900,000. so how about that? we're getting very close to completion. i wanted to thank bob schaefer come on larry king, everyone pitched in and got this under way. let me knowledge some of the special people here today. stand-up comic gold star mothers and gold star wives and sons and daughters in touch. yes. our iraq veterans, although not all of you can stand up, i say. the of. -- there you go. i want to thank everybody. we are so glad to have these people come here from walter reed. is just a real honor to have them with us.

yes. increasingly women getting wounded. i want to thank people on the podium, sons and daughters american legion, and mr. samuels, richard snyder, a noncommissioned officer association. these are my new heroes, rolling thunder. they're really help us get over the top with this the nation. that pledge, it was just a pleasure to work with them. also, though, guess what? we just top $1 million.

someone just davis the extra $70,000. -- gave us the extra $70,000. how about that? i did not have a hat -- have not had many days like this. as veterans of foreign wars, we want that at them. the and on veterans of america are here. how many people know that we have $3 million from the national australia? we want to get the australians to stand up. right here. this is a colonel and a major general. and both have had seen their share of military experience.

the australians have had some pretty bad luck creek is selling in afghanistan. -- recently in afghanistan. the vietnam veterans memorial council members here, the chairman of our board. others -- let me extend thanks to the veterans advisory board of horizon for coming here today. we now begin -- a bagpiper will now play amazing grace. you can begin to play at this time. his father-in-law, a marine major, killed in action on panel

25. at this time, you can begin laying there read from the national park service. the sec agreed, the yen on veterans memorial fund. reath from the wereat national park service. then followed by the first cavalry association. they risked their lives. ♪ and now the noncommissioned

officers. triwest health care which gave this challenge. amvets. the military order of the personal heart. the district of columbia. such a brigade, first cavalry division, the u.s. military's motorcycle club. the 20 the infantry. the fifth battalion, seventh infantry. the third battalion, eighth infantry at this time is moving forward. and 101st airborne is raising -- laying there reawreath the vietm

veterans of motorcycle club. . rolling thunder. the american legion. operation freedom bird. sons and daughters in touch. paralyzed veterans of america. seconda second wreath from the 101st airborne . please stand for the playing of taps.

♪ >> thank you. please take your seats. we're coming to the completion of the ceremony. and a couple of minutes, i will

-- yes. if anyone is here from the tully family, we have this gentleman who served under him who was the company commander of the group. if someone is looking for anyone related to mr. tully. [sirens] at this time, the ceremony for the vietnam veterans memorial is over. we appreciate everyone's attendance, and this was certainly a great day to celebrate. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> arlington cemetery

is across the river from the lead to more. it became a cemetery for civil war veterans. it was owned by robert e. lee. military casualties from each of the wars have been interred here. tomorrow on "washington journal," a discussion of the obama administration dissension to delay action on the keystone pipeline. after that, a new study looking at public school teacher compensation. later, a look at why graduate pay more than others. that is all live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. to in this weekend on book tv, on afterwards, the reactionary mind author discusses the

history of conservatism. condoleezza rice recounts her years in the bush administration as national security adviser and secretary of state. former president bill clinton talks about the current state of the american economy and his plan for recovery. look for a complete schedule at our website, and signed up for an alert and weekend schedules in your in box. .

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>> and then the deputy center for the balance of my time. it was a very clear that we were supposed to stay out of the way on the economic side. let these statutes take hold. let them sort out their economic future. figure out how to compete in the marketplace which they had not

done until before president reagan took office. there were more than a few voices who would, from time to time, suggest this was not going well and that congress should regulate. you can still hear that today. i would say that in my sphere, the basic themes of the administration, safety was first and foremost but on the economic side, leave them alone. figure out how to provide the services we depend on. >> thank you very much. now let's hear from jim miller who was director of the office under reagan. >> thank you for inviting me here.

we talk a lot about what president reagan accomplished. he restored faith in america and the presidency. i have often thought aside from that, what were the qualities of the man that made the difference? what made him so special and effective in what he did? i want to pick up on something that jim started off with, his humility. that came across the people. he was someone who talked about -- he used to talk about constitutions of so many countries started off with, anti-government gives the people certain rights. -- the government gives the

people certain rights. he liked that we give the government limited rights. he did not speak about i do this but we do this. he was always putting himself in the background. he told me a several times, i am going back to california. he sought the presidency as a finite term that the american people gave him a responsibility for a finite term. when it ended, he took a helicopter, and gone on the plane and went back to california. and there was a plaque on his desk that said, i wrote it down. there is no limit to what a man can accomplish or how far he can

go if he does not mind who gets the credit. just as an anecdote. the first budget i prepared, i was sitting down with him in the cabinet room going over some details i had put together. i wanted to make sure i had everything right. i said it would make sense to privatize the postal service. his response was, that sounds like a good idea. i felt so proud of myself sitting there. years later did we discover the box of those yellow sheets, those are his hand written scripts for his radio program.

one of them said virtually -- >> i think your microphone's foot down. >dropped down. >> one of those crypts said virtually the same thing. -- scripts said virtually the same thing. rather than having him say this, he made me think it was my idea. i think that was one of the keys to his success, his humility. >> that is an important thought to add. let's welcome the former vice chairman of the better resort. -- of the board.

>> i have to stories that can illustrate the way ronald reagan was. before i was vice-chairman of the reserve by was also the secretary of the treasury in his first term under jim baker. ed pointed out that reagan formulated a platform of domestic policy based on four major principles. i think that explains a lot about ronald reagan. he was a man of deep convictions which had been developed over experience. i do not he could operate without a principal-based administration. that is important.

when we came into the rated ministration we knew these principles. you could recite them by heart. they were not complicated. the issues were complicated but the principals were easy to understand. but they set the stage for his domestic policies. in many ways they contained the debates that went on within his own administration about how can -- how to conduct policies. when i was at the treasury, my office was always being sent over comments from the president to respond to. someone would meet in the oval office and hand him a paper of their ideas. most wood and handed off to a a staff member and a form letter

would be sent later. in many instances, he would take those papers and read them and write notes about them. i would get the white house staff which would give me these papers that someone had come in. reagan had written all of these notes on the side and then compare a written response which would be edited back at the white house. i was amazed at how many of those came over from the white house to the treasury for my analysis. that told me the people who are trying to characterize this man is a simpleton do not understand. another story was when we were in the early stages -- we had

already passed the '81 tax hike. after that, his predecessor wanted to change the budgetary policy and go against these principles that reagan had set. we used to have a tremendous number of late evening task force meetings in the oval office or the cabinet room to deal with these issues. the budget director would present a plan to reverse the tax program. he would come down to my office and say, come over with me. to have this debate. one evening in the cabinet room we had this task force.

i was against the wall behind don regan. the whole purpose of this meeting was to correct all reagan into a decision to reverse the tax program. so the former budget director makes a presentation which was an attempt to back reagan into a corner. he had returned -- rehearse quite a bit. reagan comes in and he was always extremely respectful to people. he welcomed everybody. there were probably 10 people in the room. he listens to the presentation. everybody was expecting him to make a decision. at the end he smiled, took his jar of jelly beans which are sitting on a table and passed

them around. then he said, i will take this under consideration. then he walked out of the room. i remember the stunned look on some people's faces. he did not make this decision. we had set this up. he had already made his decision with his principles. nothing changed. in many ways that is how things were governed. these principles established the fundamentals. he withstood the those through his fundamental principles. when i was vice-chairman of the fed, and i had many meetings because of the time he was chairman and i was the vice chairman. he used to tell me on his monetary plans. the first part of the reagan and ministration before the policies

were enacted, the economy was in a deep recession. 1982 was probably the? of the largest postwar recession. the unemployment rate was near 10%. the monetary policy was a very tight to break the back of inflation which was near 12%. you cannot imagine what that was like. some of the younger people cannot imagine what that was like an economically at the time with interest rates near 20%. the economy was in terrible shape. he would say, is lonely here at the fed. i am used to the central bank

being attacked. people are always trying to manipulate the federal reserve board to favor their policies. usually the pressures to stimulate monetary policy to try to get things going so they can take credit. to my surprise, not only was i not getting that kind of pressure but i was being criticized for not having policy tight enough. he said it was amazing because i could conduct a tough monetary policy to break the back of inflation. how many people would be willing -- that is leadership. someone who is willing to tolerate those short-term conditions knowing what to result would be even if it occurred after their term in office.

reagan saw the fruits of that labor before his term was up. he made those decisions not being sure that it would come to fruition. that is the kind of leadership this man had. >> i have been listening to you and one of the things that strikes me is that president reagan had clear ideas about what he thought the government should do. here today to talk about legacy, and their view that is held more and more widely today, the government in particular is something almost to be looked down on.

not just minimized but cast in a negative light. you hear that in a lot of conversation around the country. you are hearing it in the presidential campaign. what would a president reagan's view of the proper role of a federal government and people in the federal government? >> ronald reagan thought highly of the people at the frederick government. he had respect for them. he did feel it had expanded. far beyond what the founders had in mind. he studied the founders. he had read a lot. that was his habit. he read about the constitution. he recognized the fact that the constitution was the structure of government but also a limitation on government. that is why he said it was

government policies that got us into the recession we had in 1981. a lot of people mistake why he said. he did not field government was the problem in everything. but the problem for that situation. he understood the role of the federal government which is to protect the people, provide defense, provides for things that were national in sat -- subject matter. there were also limits. one of the problems is sometimes people have forgotten those limits. we could have a stronger government doing the things that the government should be doing. at the same time we would not have them intruding as much on the states. that was his view. it combines those ideas. that government was an important part of our country.

it should be while lead. the people who work for the government should be a dubai -- do a good job. but it is a government of limited powers. >> where there is the promise that were unnecessary? >> absolutely. the department of education. he felt there were 5000 people in the building and not one person, a student. he felt there were some things which the government could and perhaps money -- provide money to operate education. if you go back to the founders, one of the thing was not the province was education. that was what he would have tried to abolish. the same members of congress who voted against establishing a department of education were

unwilling because of the pressure groups and the unions were unwilling to change its structure into some sort of a foundation in 1982. >> at the department of transportation, when you were there, did the department of feel appreciated by the american people? did employees -- did you feel that some felt they are not appreciated? >> i think there was an appreciation that emanated from the oval office. if we felt underappreciated it was when the media would go after us about aviation issues which is a perpetual opportunity for selling newspapers. there was not a disconnected. it was a different dynamic if we

felt we were being criticized. to pick up on this point about his sense of where the line should be drawn, he had been a governor for eight years of a state that was seven or eight in the world if it were a country. he had an appreciation for federalism. and the proper role of the states. he saw a role for federal taxation on a fuel, to have a highway program. to help transit. he signed a bill that increased koufax's because he agreed we were not investing enough. fast forward four years to january. he vetoed the bill -l.

congress had intruded into the decision making should be made at the state and local level by using earmarks. this congress has abolished those. in the last highway transit bill, in 2003, there were over 7000 earmarks. president reagan thought they were out of control because they're 154. the most legendary and notorious was for something called the central artery in boston. it was an expected cost up to

$20 billion. if you look it up, you will find it ended up costing over $22 million. when it was finally finished. they will pay for the bonds in the year 2038. president reagan thought that many was way too many. that particular one symbolized everything that was wrong with congress trying to micromanage how the federal money was going to be used. so it was vetoed. the democrats controlled the house by a substantial margin. he knew he would be over written in the house. it takes two-thirds of the vote. in a senate there was a fighting chance. it fell one vote short. robert bolt -- bird called a tactical maneuver so that it stayed open so he could try to shift the vote and have a second

one. that is what happened. the freshman senator was persuaded having voted to sustain the veto. it went straight back to the senate floor. the rest is history. that is how went to $22 billion for the project. that story, from my perspective, captures the dynamic of trying to manage the federal role in a way that recognizes what the proper role as. and act on that. it was not just rhetoric. >> how you see, when you think about president reagan, his view of the federal government?

>> he believed that the role is limited. he was a firm believer in the 10th amendment that those authorities and responsibilities not enumerated in the constitution are reserved for the people and the states. that is the bork of his policy making. he articulated principles very simply. i want to get back to what -- he was passed by sam donaldson, what to think of the cold war? we win, and they lose. [laughter] in the situation room, you'd have people saying we have to do this. we have to go easy. we have to give in. he would say, if the soviets want to wage a cold war, it is a

war they will not win. we had to follow those simple principles. they were easily understood. it was easy to understand where he was coming from. it was easy to prepare a budget because you knew where he would come out. it was easy to go into these various budget appeals because i felt confident when agency appealed their budget that he would come out on my side. it was his side. you knew it ahead of time. the application of those principles was sometimes difficult. there was a lot of discussion. where to go, what to do.

i saw this at the beginning of the administration. i was sitting in one of the first cabinet meetings. i was one of those people up against a wall. the issue was wiser -- whether the president would sign an executive order allowing economic development in wilderness areas. there was discussion around the table. nearly everyone said it was a good idea. we want to increase economic activity. let's allow it to take place in these wilderness areas. it was apparent he was going to say now. in the end, the secretary of energy made a last stab at trying to persuade the president. he said, mr. president i do not

understand why there is need cleaner air to breathe and us humans. without missing a beat he said, have you ever smelled a bear? [laughter] >> i do not know how to top that. what would you say was the economic decision and affected the economy that has had the longest impact during his administration? >> i am not sure there is one simple thing but i will try to characterize -- you heard my store-bought monetary policy. his of firmness supporting the federal reserve policy to break the back of inflation has had a

long-lasting impact. we enjoy these low interest rates today as a result. one story -- alan greenspan said what to do you think the greatest impact was? he said to me, it was when he confronted in the air traffic controllers at the beginning of his administration. he confronted this public-sector union and fired all of the air traffic controllers for striking. everyone thought that was sacred. they could not be touched. he replaced them all. there was no damage to the safety record. he said it sent the message to

ceos and business managers all over the country that there would not be political interference with the downsizing and the restructuring than needed to be done in the 1970's and 1980's to be able to be globally competitive. i think that was a defining moment, too. it was carried through the bush and into the clinton administration's where businesses continued to be able to restructure their corporations. i think it allowed us to stay competitive. this is becoming more problematic but that was a case -- because i have so much blood and sweat into this policy to think that his tax policies were

defining moment. it was one of my proudest days watching him to sign the 1981 tax act. people do not remember the top marginal income rate was 70%. you're only allowed to keep 30% of every dollar you weren't. it came to a grinding halt. people were sheltering income. tax rates were reduced to 50% with all of the other brackets in proportion. there were exemptions from the lowest levels. and then the tax rate the, the brackets were shrunk down to three simple brackets with the top rate at 28%.